


Where You Belong

by Junebug1312



Category: Crankiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Blow Jobs, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Masturbation, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2018-01-24
Packaged: 2019-01-21 14:43:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12459942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junebug1312/pseuds/Junebug1312
Summary: Once a demon and angel turn 16 they are assigned to a child, Ethan and Mark are assigned to Dan.





	1. Chapter 1

Growing up as an Angel was hard. Yes, I know how that sounds extremely crazy. But, it's true. You're not allowed to do anything sinful, and by nothing I mean absolutely nothing. Anything the Bible depicts as bad is off limits to all angels, well except for a few things. Homosexuality is fine, apparently the Bible never directly says anything about it though I have overheard many angels say there are multiple lines that directly quote that two men should not lie together but I guess God has his own opinions on the matter. Another thing that is fine is swearing. Again, guess god just doesn't see it as a big deal. But there are many others things that are very wrong it would probably take me a year to list all of the things I am not allowed to do.

I died when I was young, which I'm sure many would cry over but at this point, I don't even remember what being a human feels like. Don't get it wrong, Angels still feel, still have emotions and some needs. But we don't have to eat or go to the bathroom or sleep. Those are three things angels don't need to do which is great. No wasted time, not working on big projects. Dying was as fun as you can expect, but when I got up here and see the expected 'white light' which was absolutely blinding they assigned me to a sector right away. They assessed me, kind, caring, and quick-witted, they were gentle with me but quickly made sure I understood how important being a young angel was.

That was seven years ago, and let me tell you they lose there caring nature. Once you turn 16 you get three chances to succeed at your job, you fail three times and you're out of the program. You get thrown down into what they call the 'leftover department'. From what I heard it's not a nice place, full of reject angels pretty much treated like slaves. That's all anyone has ever told me about the place, which is why I always make sure to never make a mistake. My department is "Life Management". Which is a fancy title for a basic job. Pretty much when a child turns 12 on earth, a demon and an angel are sent down to be helpers. Yes, I know what you are thinking, demon!? Yep, natural order and all that. They say if only an angel goes down the child will be too naive, the demon helps to send a child blunt reality. But both of these forces help try to sway the child into doing good or bad. If the child is swayed into being bad, it is listed so when it dies it will become a demon. It the child chooses to ignore the bad options and try and be good it will become an angel when it dies. Sounds gruesome but that's how we keep order around here. See I was nine years old when I died so I never got an angel or demon on my shoulders, with kids who die before ten they just look at there qualities and values and that's how they choose.

Since I have finally turned sixteen, it is my turn to be assigned to a child along with some asshole, I mean demon. I heard that the demons are spiky, red and overall gross looking. I also heard horror stories when I was in training school to become fit for life management. Demons persuading angels to come over to the dark side, either through lust, greed or any of the seven deadly sins. See as angels we are seen as wholesome and pure but still some angels become overtaken by an angel's wants and desires. All angels have them we just bury them deep inside of ourselves so no one can see them. You can never let a demon see what your wants are, otherwise, they will corrupt you with them, they will turn themselves into what they think you want just so they can recruit you to come over to Hell. It's like a badge of honor for a demon, that's why they are all sick. And why I am not excited to be paired up with one.

* * *

 

 

"Next!" A booming voice rang throughout the crowd and I knew it was my turn.

All angels who are 16 are lined up in neat rows, well all angels in Life Management the ones who are in say the business sector, make new laws for all the angels never needing to go through a process like this. I gulped and slowly walked over to the scanning machine, an angel named Lander was standing firmly in position. Lander was what they call a 'hard-ass' in the human world. He thought all angels under 20 were going out into the world just to cause trouble, he hated me pretty much just because I looked like 'another teenager who is going to break our fragile system' his words not mine.

"Ah Ethan, nice to finally see you here" Lander spoke sarcastically, holding up a large metal scanner.

He waved it across my chest and in less than three seconds was screaming in my ear.

"Dan!" His voice actually stung my ears.

And with that I was being pulled into another line full of even more angels, when was this going to end? As I began to tap my foot the angel in front of me turned around and nudged me.

"Hey," a girl with blonde hair said,

I was surprised that she was talking to me, usually, all the angels are all business not talking to anyone else. They think their only purpose in heaven is to work, so the fact this girl was speaking to me, not in an authoritative tone but instead being friendly was surprising.

"Um hi" I smiled

"Are you as scared as I am" she whispered returning my smile yet her's seemed more relaxed.

I chuckled and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Terrified actually" I responded, she giggled and extended her hand towards me.

"Amy"

I shook it firmly, noticing the softness of her hands.

"Ethan"

And with that one exchange, the line started to move quickly and I could see all the angels were sent to different rooms. Suddenly my heart started to beat faster, what was happening now!? Why didn't they explain this to me yesterday when they were prepping us, they just told us all about meeting our new human! Mine is called Dan which I suppose is nice, what if they are mean? What if I fail and the demon corrupts my one chance at success!

As my mind raced I hadn't noticed that a larger man was dragging me over to one of these small rooms without addressing me at all, once the door was open to the room, I saw a chair with a tray next to it and a smiling woman standing next to it.

"Thank you Vince" she had perfectly white teeth with smile lines around her mouth.

The door was closed behind me, making me jump sudden noise echoing throughout the empty room.

The lady gestured over to the chair, and cautiously I moved over to it and sat down.

"Now I need to explain a few things before you go down to meet your human and also your coworker"

I scoffed at the implication of 'coworker' as if I would treat some low life demon as anything but a despicable being.

The lady raised her eyebrows at me but smiled anyway.

"Yes I know working with a demon will be hard but you must treat them will a certain level of decency, angels need to proper, though if he gives you trouble," she began

She leaned in closer and lowered her voice to a whisper "Hit him with your wings"

I full on snorted at that, which seemed to make her happy. This angel was at least understanding.

"So anyway, the human knows that he is getting an angel and demon today, all parents tell there children on there birthday so you don't need to explain anything to him, you will look after him for five years and at the end of those five years we will look over the progress of the child, if the child seems to have more bad then good in them they will be listed as demon if its the other way around they will be listed as angel"

As the lady was talking she took a vile of green liquid from her pocket and started to pour it in a syringe, once it was full she put the top of the syringe back in and placed it on the table gently.

"Now as you see here I have put some Abernathy in here, basically once I inject you with that, we will transport you to the humans house, once you get there you will be introduced to your partner and then you must get to work immediately" The lady had a bright smile and glowing eyes, making you feel a level of comfort but as she leaned in slightly closer to me her eyes had a somewhat intense look to them.

"Now remember, if something happens to your child there will be big consequences, you will never be allowed to look after another child again, banished to sorting files in the filing compartment but if something truly tragic happens there is a huge chance that you will end up in the Leftover compartment where you will never see any other angels again, you understand?"

I gulped but nodded fervently, I would never let anything happen to Dan. I would not let him down or any of my fellow angels.

The darkness in her face quickly left just like it had come and she picked up the syringe carefully.

"You see angels have high pain tolerance so this will only feel like a pinch"

She demonstrated her words by rapidly sticking the needle into my arm, I was about to complain but didn't since it had barely felt like anything. So I just sat there, not saying anything as she emptied the liquid into my arm, my eyes started to feel heavier and heavier.

"now what?" My words slurred and the lady's nice smile became blurry.

"Now you relax"

* * *

 

I woke up with a gasp, I was lying on something soft unlike the previous feeling of leather under my body. The room was dark, but I could still make out, a few things like the weird machine at the front of the room, I could see my reflection in it. Oh, this was a T.V! I hadn't seen one in so long! Since I used to be a human unlike some of the angels who were born through two angel parents, so I knew most of the things in this place.

The room was small, there was a wardrobe a dresser, a chair and of course the bed but that was pretty much it. Memories of the conversation I had with the kind lady who poisoned me came flashing into my head. My coworker right, where was he? I quickly scanned the room, confused as to why I was alone when I heard a cough from the chair in the corner in the room.

I snapped my head to look over at it, and that's when I saw him. A shorter man, with dark brown hair, sitting in the chair rocking slowly back and forth a devilish smirk on his face.

"How was your nap princess?" the smug look on his face sent my stomach turning, so this is what a demon looked like? It wasn't at all what I expected.

"Your-your..." My voice was rough, probably from not using it for...how long was I out?

"Your handsome amazing demon, yep that's me sweetheart" he answered, my face heated slightly at the name he called me.

"Don't call me that" I growled and straightened myself up, now sitting up on the comfy bed.

The demon seemed slightly taken aback by my tone but the expression was quickly taken over by a smirk.

"Interesting I thought Angels were supposed to be so sweet and giving"

I rolled my eyes, yes I am so sure that is what he thought. As much as I am sweet and giving I would not give the satisfaction this grotesque creature.

"And I thought demons were supposed to be scary" I retorted rubbing my head as I could feel aching starting to began, probably from the drug but maybe also from this conversation.

The demon gasped sarcastically, I rolled my eyes again. I couldn't deal with this asshole for five years, could I?

"Well anyway my name is Ethan princess" I mocked the former name he called me.

The demon's eyes sparkled with something I didn't quite like.

"Mark's the name but you can call me whatever you please babe" Marks tone dripped with something that made me feel flustered and weird.

Before I could respond I heard footsteps from outside the door, was this it!? Was this our human.

As the door turned I jumped off of the bed and straightened out my clothes. The door opened and a small boy walked in, his hair was brown and scruffy and he still had innocent looking eyes. His school uniform was tattered, brown smudges all over his white shirt. He threw his backpack to the ground just as Mark coughed just like he had with me. Dan freaked out for a moment concern spreading across his face as he looked over the two strangers in his room. Dan just stood there speechless, unable to grasp who we were.

"Dan," I said sweetly and took a small step towards him "I'm your angel".

Dan's face speedily changed from fear to excitement, his eyes grazed up and down my body taking in my full form.

"I thought you would have wings?" Dan asked quietly, still not seeming to comprehend the situation.

I chuckled at the child's assumption of me.

"I do, humans can't see them only other angels and-"

"Demons can see them to" Mark interrupted as he smiled sweetly at Dan. Weird I thought demons could only scowl or smirk.

Dan's eyes were lit up in amazement at this new prospect.

"This is so cool! I've always wanted people to hang out with!" Dan's voice was squeaky, reminding me of myself when I was close to his age.

"Well, I'm sure you have friends at school to hang out with to buddy!" I smiled and moved over to him.

Dan's face dropped as I spoke, which was not a good sign when it's your first day as a caretaker.

"W-well actually no one really likes me" Dan's bottom lip quivered and I knew this was a comforting moment. Angels have these sort of preset intuitions installed in them, so they can tell what someone needs at certain times.

I put one arm around him and squeezed him into me, hoping it would be enough. MArk looked over at us and rolled his eyes, to say the least Demons do not have the same intuitions.

"Dan you won't need to care about friends when you can go out drinking and partying with hot girls!" Mark replied, the redness of his eyes blazing.

I looked at him as if he was crazy and brought Dan closer to me.

"Don't listen to him, I'm sure you will begin to make friends eventually, sometimes it just takes time"

"or you could not give a shit about what people think" Mark suggested clearly thinking he was being helpful.

"Mark! Don't swear in front of Dan!" My eyes widened and I shook my head at Marks inconsiderate nature.

"It's ok angel I am surrounded by people who swear it's not a big deal" Dan seemed to have forgotten about the previous conversation so I just nodded my head.

"Now, Dan, we are going to be here for you, ok but in no way are we going to dictate your life we will try to give you advice but your decisions are all up to you" I explained noticing that my arm was still wrapped around Dan and how I was enjoying the warmth of his back. In heaven, no one hugs or does anything unless they are married or dating.

"I know angel thanks"

Dan was so nice! I am so glad I didn't get some stuck spoiled brat. Well, I did get one of those, but he was my freaking partner in this. Why couldn't I get someone who wasn't such an asshole? How am I possibly going to deal with him for five years?


	2. Two Months In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan, Ethan and Mark are all becoming closer, but so is Ethan's hidden truth.

Two months I have spent with Mark and Dan. Two months of actual pure hell, no pun intended. I’ve gone through a lot of shit, but oh my god Mark makes me want to run him over. Dan is going great, we are amazingly comfortable after two months. We joke around and we treat each other equally. Mark, on the other hand, is always trying to make Dan go over into sin. Always talking about stealing from his mom or cursing out the teacher who gave him an F even though to be fair he didn’t study at all! But Dan always ends up saying no, he always ends up doing the right thing and for that, I am proud. But Mark is now just being more annoying. See as I said on the first day of the job, demons try to corrupt the angels they are working with, they try to get them to give in to whatever desires they have. It’s just a game to him, something he will use against me. And so Mark has been smothering me with sinful conversations about things I am not supposed to talk or think about and it is really getting on my nerves. As far as I’m concerned I have no desires that are sinful, so Mark has just been getting more and more frustrated.

“Hey wings, what about being so powerful you have people crumbling at your feet kissing the land you walk on” Mark began for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Dan was sleeping peacefully in his bed, Mark and I were standing watching over him as we are supposed to, this was Marks new thing though he kept bringing up stupid conversations as if that would reveal what I desired.

“Mark please for the millionth time, just stop” I responded leaning back against the wall.

“Come on what gets you going wings, is it money is that it? You're to ashamed to admit that all you have ever wanted was money?”

“Mark I literally live in heaven, I don’t own a bed or a house, since I don’t sleep or eat or relax, I work all day every day what would I do with money,” I asked exasperatedly.

Mark peered at me, trying to sense if I was lying but in the end, he just sighed.

I rolled my eyes at his discouraged expression. I was here to work not talk to some lowlife demon. So I started to ignore him, ignore his multiple questions and shifty glances, and I focused on the boy sleeping soundly. Sometimes I forget what sleeping feels like, even though it used to be nine years of my life. Angels are told that they will eventually forget everything about there human life, that's why I’m not sad about my parents or friends I left behind because I simply can’t remember them.

As I began to get lost in thought I started to hear small noises coming from Dan. I focused in on his sleeping form, breathy sighs were beginning to leave his mouth, I raised my eyebrows concerned for the boy. Dan started to move his body up and down the bed, the noises he was making became louder.

“Ok, it’s our cue to leave” Mark stated and walked over to the door.

“What why?” I asked confused at Marks urgency to leave, what if something was wrong with Dan?

“Because we really don’t need to watch this” Mark explained and grabbed onto my arm dragging me with him.

Dan’s noises sounded like he was whimpering now, I turned around to see him moving quicker.

“Mark I think he is hurt we have to help him!” I persisted not understanding why Mark was acting so strangely.

“No dumbass he is getting off ok we need to leave unless you want to be a perverted angel” Mark exclaimed and practically threw me outside of the door as he followed.

What does he mean getting off? What even is that?

“Mark I am in no way perverted and what the heck is getting off!?” I shouted scared for Dan.

Mark was pacing at this point but he stopped when the question left my mouth. He squinted at me and then an amused twinkle started to appear in his eyes.

“You don’t know about masturbation?” Mark asked slowly, my eyes widened.

“Don’t say that its a sin!” I reprimanded, though my face was weirdly becoming hotter.

“Dude that is what getting off means, that’s what Dan is doing right now”

I gasped, almost comically.

“Well, then I need to stop him! That’s bad he shouldn’t be doing that!” I rushed back to the door but Mark put his hand out to stop me.

“Ok first of all he is not doing it on purpose, second of all humans are allowed to do what they please based on religion you know that, so you are not going to go in there” Mark whispered matter of factly.

“I don’t understand why anyone would want to do that”

I could tell Mark was still entertained, by what I’m not completely sure. All I know is I was getting flustered again talking about such a disgusting and sinful act.

“Angel, not only is it apart of puberty which a twelve-year-old boy goes through but he also will start doing it cause it feels really good” Mark stated making me feel like a child the way he was talking to me.

My eyes grew larger and I felt my mouth drop open.

“You’ve done it!?” I exclaimed.

Mark rolled his eyes but a smile overtook his casual expression.

“I am a demon you know that right, I’ve literally done everything” Mark stated, running his hands through his dark hair.

The way his voice had dropped sent shivers through me, it must just be because of the air conditioner being right next to us. I didn’t even want to begin thinking about what Mark had done.

“Shut up! I don’t want to know” I stated and turned my back to him, unable to face the demon at this time.

I heard Mark chuckle and my face became warmer, so this is what embarrassment feels like. I didn’t experience much of it up in heaven. Heaven was full of making no mistakes ever, knowing about everything and always being professional. My days were full of taking classes and getting prepared to take care of a human which is what I am now doing.

“So…you’ve never been curious?” Mark questioned from behind me.

I shook my head distracted, curious?

“What?” I replied,

“Touching yourself?” Mark asked without hesitation.

I whipped my body back around to face him, positive my face was cherry red at this point.

“No! Of course not, I am a servant of heaven and that is a sin” I exclaimed.

Though another sin was lying which is what I was doing right now. I have thought about it, when I was out of classes I wondered what it would be like to touch myself but I had never done it, even though sometimes I really wanted to. But that can’t be that big of a surprise, I was nine when I died I never got the opportunity to go through all of that. Was that my secret desire? I really hope not. But it would make sense, sexual gratification has always been something I've thought about but I always resisted from it because it is a quality of a human not an angel. Oh my god, that's my desire. Seriously!?

Mark squinted at me, before raising his eyebrows a surprised but smug look appearing on his face.

“Oh my god you have!” Mark huffed out, his eyes were sparkling with mischievousness now, not a good sign.

“No! I have not!” I lied again, how was Mark seeing through me!?

Mark just laughed and patted my shoulder patronizingly.

“Angel I am a demon I can tell when people are lying ok? I lie for a living” he began

“Don’t worry your secrets safe with me babe” Mark winked.

Embarrassment flooded over me, oh gosh how could I have not remembered that demons were basically natural born liars and now this dick knows exactly my desire.

“So…lust that’s it huh? Can’t say I’m surprised, that's probably why you always act like you have a stick up your ass” Mark spoke.

“I do not have a stick up my ass” I grumbled.

Ok maybe I do have a stick up my ass but it's only because I constantly have to be aware around Mark, I’ve heard so many stories of corrupted angels and I do not plan to be one. And now that Mark knows that I’ve always had secret thoughts of lustful activity it is not going to be a good time for me.

Mark looked me up and down as I fidgeted nervously. A wide grin surfacing on his face, his red eyes glowing with determination which I don’t like one bit.

“Why don’t you just do it?” Mark questioned.

My eyes widened, do it!? Like touch myself!?

“We are so not talking about this demon!” I hissed unable to hold myself back.

Marks eyes previously filled with a scarily smug appearance were now overtaken by curiosity, probably not understanding the monstrosity of this situation.

“What do you already have a girlfriend to do that for you, is that why you're so freaked out?”

I shook my head, thoughts running wild.

“I am not engaged in any type of relationship besides I would not commit such a treacherous act even if I was” I explained hesitantly scared of what was safe to tell Mark and what was not.

Marks horns emerged slightly from his hair and I took in the beautiful red color emitting from them.

“Wait, you're telling me you have never had sex?” Mark’s mouth fell open.

I rolled my eyes at Marks surprise, surely he knew that didn’t he? If I had never masturbated then why the hell would I have had sex? He must be trying to get a rise out of me, but Marks expression tells a very different story, he almost looks concerned.

“Of course not! We are angels! Servants of-”

“Yes I know ‘Servants of Heaven’” Mark interrupted doing air quotations with his fingers as he rolled his eyes.

As we had been talking I hadn’t noticed the noises from Dan's room had drowned out and was now left with an empty sort of silence. Without speaking I pushed past Mark to check on Dan, once I had gotten back in I examined Dan. Thankfully he seemed to be fine, a content smile on his face.

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I had been holding and turned back to where Mark was staring at me, looking lost in thought. I blinked curiously at him but otherwise said nothing, even though angels don’t need to sleep I was finding myself quite tired of Marks shit.

* * *

“Mark come play Call Of Duty with me!” Dan shouted.

Mark who was sitting in the chair in the corner smiled and got up ready to head to the living room. Both of us had been getting along very well with him which made me feel very accomplished. Dan was usually at school and we weren’t allowed to go with him because once you get older, people forget about ever having an angel and demon on their shoulders so if they saw us walking around it would probably scare them a lot though we can make ourselves invisible if we choose to.

“Dan, come on you know you have homework today” I spoke authoritatively.

Dan groaned and threw his controller down on the bed.

“No come on buddy lets do it some other day,” Mark said trying to coax an already excited Dan into going with him.

Dan began to grin but looked up at me and noticed my genuine scowl. Dan let out a heavy exhale and shook his head making his way over to his desk where scattered assignments were laying.

“Mark, why don’t we go to the living room and let Dan do his work,” I said intently gesturing for him to follow me.

Mark just sighed and started to walk out the door. The thing about Mark was that when he was a dick he could be the biggest dick in the world but other times he was so simple. He tried to get Dan to do the wrong thing but sometimes it didn’t even seem like he wanted to, he just wanted to relax and spend time with Dan. Mark was turning out to be very complicated. I thought after the whole lust conversation he would be talking about it all the time but so far he hasn’t said anything about it.

As we walked down the hallway, I noticed the brown paint was making the hallway dark and gloomy. But once we had entered the living room with the pink throw pillows and white fancy furniture I felt almost like I was home, which I am surprised to say I miss greatly.

“So Ethan….” Mark started, I looked up expectantly.

Mark was making his way over to a chair sitting up against a window which sunlight was streaming in from.

“Yes?” I answered deciding to plop down on the big sofa in the middle of the room.

Dan’s parents were barely ever around, always on business trips. I felt bad for Dan not having his parents around but he didn’t always seem to care, I suppose he has gotten used to it.

I was looking down at my hands when I heard a snap come from where Mark was sitting. I snapped my head to look at what he was up to but what came into my view was not what I expected.

It was a woman.

A woman with long brown hair, full lips and a red dress on.

“Wha…?”

“Like what you see angel?” The woman’s voice was deep and I felt goosebumps appear on my arms just from her tone. Except I noticed something, she called me 'angel' and no one calls me angel except for…

“Mark!?” I exclaimed, kind of scared at the presence of the strange woman.

The woman smirked, just like Mark does which confirmed my suspicions. Mark started to walk over to the couch, slowly and almost cautiously. My eyes started to enlarge, why was Mark doing this!?

“Mark stop, turn back” I commanded though my tone was shaky.

Another stupid thing demons can do. They can shapeshift to look like whatever they think your desires look like.

“Oh, no big boy I don’t think I will” Mark stopped and began to strip off her…his…it’s dress.

I just sat there with my mouth agape, I did not want to see whatever Mark was planning to show me. When the red satin dress had fallen to Marks feet, what was left was a lacy red bra with matching red panties. Mark carefully stepped out of the dress, his now long hair swaying across his skin. I felt a blush start to spread up my face.

“You like this?” Mark purred stepping closer to me.

I felt my wings start to curl into my body, which is a very clear sign that I didn’t like what he was doing. Mark seemed to notice this and he frowned and stopped walking.

“You don’t feel anything by looking at this?” Mark said motioning to the body he was now in.

I shook my head silently unable to form words at this point. Mark just rolled his eyes and another snap echoed throughout the room, and Mark was finally back in his normal state. The dress had also disappeared.

“How did that not turn you on?” Mark questioned, looking at me suspiciously as if this was my fault.

“Oh I’m so sorry for not giving you what you wanted, but seriously don't do that again” I mumbled still slightly freaked out at what I had just experienced.

The real problem here was, how long till Mark figured out why I wasn’t turned on by his magic show reveal. And how would he respond, or use it against me?

“I will figure this out” Mark squinted his eyes and I grinned back at him.

“You do that now”

* * *

 

“Dan, why are you so upset?” I questioned gently, knowing not to pressure Dan at a time like this.

Both Mark and I were sitting on his bed with him, Dan was staring at the wall in front of him, a blush forming on his cheeks.

“I just- I don’t want to talk about it” Dan exclaimed, clutching his backpack to his chest as if it was full of secrets ready to be spilled.

“Come on buddy I’m sure you did nothing wrong” Mark nudged him and gave him a reassuring smile.

Dan flinched at the contact but just gave out one big sigh, which meant he was finally ready to tell us why he had been so distant lately.

“I-I’m…..gay” Dan whispered, a tear falling from his eye.

My eyes widened, Dan was gay? All of a sudden flashbacks to being ridiculed about wanting to kiss Josh instead of Jess when I was 8 came bursting into my head. All of the angels laughing about gods approval and that they were glad they weren’t perverted like that.

“Dan, that’s absolutely fine” Mark smiled.

Dan looked instantly relieved to find he wasn’t in any trouble. I, on the other hand, was having a hard time expressing to Dan how ok it was. How people are assholes, how for the rest of his life there wouldn’t be a day a mean nickname didn’t float into his head and ruin his smile. I know for me, it is a never-ending battle, I just wish Dan didn’t have to go down the same path as me.

“Yes Dan you know we support you” I wrapped my arm around him lovingly and Dan sunk into it, probably just glad we didn’t yell at him.

“There's this boy,” Dan said dreamily “His name is Phil”

And there it is. I had a Phil too. When I was younger I had many Phil’s, even in heaven I have had many Phil’s but I’ll never be able to tell them I like them. And I just wish I could have waited longer before having to tell Dan that sometimes the world fucking sucks.


	3. Four Months In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Ethans truth finally be spilled just like, Coca Cola?

“What is it like in hell?” I asked Mark who was now lying on Dan's bed.

Today Dan was at a basketball game, he had made a few new friends since we arrived and so he was quite busy now. Sometimes he would come home weeping, some idiot had called him a faggot or something and it had upset him. We would sit by his side, Mark creating unhelpful solutions while I rubbed his shoulders.

Mark opened his eyes and looked at me curiously, his tousled brown hair fell in front of his amber eyes, making them look duller.

“Hell?” He grumbled tiredly, clearly not expecting me to talk to him.

I started to pick at my nail, afraid of how to approach this subject. Yes, I wanted to know about hell. But I also didn’t want to get in trouble, what if my superiors could hear me right now, what if the council could hear me!? I really didn’t want to cause trouble or create waves I just really was interested.

I nodded, feeling no trust within my voice at the moment. Mark looked me up and down as if he was waiting for me to say something else but eventually, he sighed and closed his eyes again. I took that as an answer enough. As I was about to tune out the world I heard Mark clear his throat.

“Hell is pretty complicated angel” Mark muttered still in his relaxed state.

That stupid nickname. Why couldn’t he ever call me something normal, like, I don’t know my real name maybe?

Mark opened his eyes halfway which made it appear as if he was squinting at me, and rolled over so his body was now lying on the bed facing me.

“How so?” I persisted, more than just interested now.

Heaven was boringly simple. The rules never change, the laws never change, the scenery never changes. Bright white fluffy clouds and that's it. I’m honestly surprised I haven’t gone crazy from looking at that all day. We don’t even have nighttime in heaven, due to the no need for sleep thing. We have like a factory shut down setting though, so when we are not needed we don’t take up extra room by walking around. We find a comfortable area, and do mindfulness till we are like trapped in our own minds, then when we want to wake up all we have to do is imagine us waking up in our heads. So very simple.

Mark grunted, probably wishing I was in factory shut down mode right now.

“You really want to know angel?” Mark’s eyes got a little bit more color in them.

I think I liked them better like that, the vibrant glow drawing you to look at them, they also contrasted quite nicely against his tan skin.

“Yes, I would” I confirmed and rested my chin in my hands, trying to show I was listening.

“Well there is tons of sin happening all around, but I’m sure you already know that” Mark began grinning at my fidgeting at the word ‘sin’.

“Sex, drugs, money pretty much lying around for anyone to have, humans, think hell is bad no hell is like an afterparty for the really shitty party called life, you can do whatever you want down there, no rules except for one” Mark explained, still smiling at my shifting but when he got to the last part his smile dropped some.

“What is it,” I said in a hushed voice.

“You don’t get to say no” Mark grimaced almost disgusted by even saying the words.

I blinked, bewildered at the simple phrase, it was simple yet it held so much meaning and cruelty behind the words.

“What do you mean?” I spoke softly, my words almost getting captured by my hands.

Mark was scowling at his chest now, clearly not wanting to remind himself of his angel audience.

“No doesn’t mean no, someone wants to have sex with you, you don’t get a choice, I mean sure you can scream 'no' till their ears bleed but they won't stop or get in trouble” Mark shuddered, the words seeming to slip out of his mouth emotionlessly.

“Life doesn’t stop down there either, it’s constant sin being thrust into your face, and you're considered weak if you deny it from yourself, you are an object that people will use until there’s nothing left”

My lips were sealed shut, I wasn’t sure if I was even breathing anymore.

“I’ve heard of the angels version of being rejected but let me tell you, you don’t get forgotten where we go, when you are broken and thrown away, you get tortured until the only words you remember are ‘stop’ and ‘please’, they’ll break you till there is truly nothing left of you and then they will go even further” Mark’s face had become ghostly pale, and I couldn’t help but wonder what he had gone through.

Marks’ breath was shallow and his eyes were darting rapidly from looking at Dan’s bedsheets to his own redshirt until finally, he took in a deep breath and the world seemed to be still. It was completely silent, no one dared to utter a word to fill the space. Until Mark glanced back at me as if I was a memory that had just flown into his head, he gave me a weak smile.

“But you know that is what they say ‘Hell is hell’ and all that” Mark chuckled lowly and rolled onto his back.

“Mark” I started but was unsure of how to continue after all I had learned. No choice, no forgiveness, so simple it was scary.

Torture daily, everyone takes what they want no matter the cost. Gosh, hell was fucking hell. And as I looked into Mark's eyes, I saw anger, I saw pain but the one thing that stood out from the rest was the lack of hope, it looked like it had been completely drained from his being. I started noticing things I hadn’t even thought about. Like the blackness underneath his eyes or the frown lines splitting into his otherwise flawless complexion.

“I’m so…sorry” I wanted him to believe me, I wanted to see a flame erupt into his eyes but there was nothing, I was a house in front of a hurricane, completely helpless.

Mark just scoffed and closed his eyes for the third time.

“Now no more questions, I don’t have time for your new interest of the other side of life”

  
I sat there in the midst of the hurricane feeling myself being dragged into the disaster, and I wondered if perhaps, it wasn’t a hurricane at all but instead a tsunami, cause how else could you explain why I felt like I was drowning.

* * *

I paced at the door of Dan's bedroom, why wasn’t he home yet? Why was he so late? He was supposed to be home thirty minutes ago.

“Angel calm down ok, he probably just missed the bus” Mark exclaimed, though I could tell that he was just as nervous as I was.

I tried to stop pacing but my feet continued to march up and down without restraint. I could feel sweat forming at my hairline but I couldn’t seem to care about wiping it. I was about to start yelling or cursing or something when Dan pushed through the door, almost hitting me.

“Oh, Dan! I was so worried-“ I started to calm down when Dan's appearance sent me speechless.

Covered in dirt was an understatement. He looked like he bathed in mud and then rolled around in the grass for fun. His nose was bloody, red dripping from it like a faucet and bruises littered the rest of his face and arms. Mark apparently didn’t have the same reaction as me.

“WHAT LITTLE FUCKING ASSHOLE DID THIS TO YOU!” Mark screamed, stomping over to where Dan was standing.

Dan had a quivering frown on his face alongside a steady stream of tears pouring down from his eyes. He was trying to keep himself together but there is only so long till the dam would break.

“S-Some guys pushed m-me into a d-ditch and then j-jumped in and beat m-me up” Dan stuttered.

Mark was livid, he was practically steaming.

“I’m going to kill those little bastards, they’ll see what happens when they break something that's mine!” Mark shouted angrily grabbing a notebook of the top of the T.V and throwing it on the ground as if that would relieve some of his rage.

I was still stuck in my state of shock. I just don’t understand how someone could do this to Dan, sweet, would never hurt anyone, Dan. My Dan. My human.

Now usually I was the compassionate person, the understanding person, Mark would lose his cool, go off about shoving pencils in the bullies eyes or feeding their parents to scorpions and I would stand there, nod, let him vent all of the anger out and then I would talk him down while telling Dan all the commonly respectable ways to handle the situation.

I wasn’t feeling very understanding at the moment, no I was feeling very homicidal actually.

“Why did they do this?” I quietly said.

Dan was visibly shaking at this point but he calmly walked over to his bed, a blush spreading up his bruised cheeks.

“Y-You’ll laugh” he muttered the blush growing darker as he sat on the rumpled bedsheets.

“No, I won’t” I stated, unable to understand how he could even think that.

Dan let more tears drip down his face, while the occasional sniffle would add to the sound of Marks heavy breathing.

“I told Phil that I liked him” Dan whispered, clearly flustered by this confession.

“And he beat you up!?” Mark exclaimed, fists raised in the air.

“No!” Dan quickly jumped up “Some other guys were listening, and they found me after school, Phil said….he said he liked me too”

Dan was still upset majorly so, but a quick smile appeared if only for a moment as he thought about Phil.

“Dan this is over, I’m done I’m done with you coming home like this, upset and battered, I’m done” Mark announced, flailing his arms wildly to get his point across.

“When you're better, when we help make you feel better we are going after them all three of us no matter what happens we are taking them down”

Dan's eyes widened at Marks obvious threat and without missing a beat they both looked at me. Now I knew what they were expecting, many “no calm down” or perhaps a shake of my head at even the thought of touching other kids. But like I said before I was in no understanding mood, not when they ruined the one thing I have ever loved.

“For once,” I began, seeing Mark and Dan bite their lips with anticipation.

“I agree”

* * *

 

Dan was still healing, his parents had come home that day thankfully so they could take him to the doctors to go check him out and make sure he didn’t have any serious injuries. His parents were much like Mark except they didn’t agree to let Dan physically hurt any bullies but hey that doesn’t need to be discussed. Now Dan was out and Mark and I were left fuming in Dan’s room together. Which I noticed we were doing a lot lately, just sitting in Dan's room talking.

Another thing I had noticed was Mark seemed to be getting progressively more and more tired of trying to figure out my turn-ons and secret desire. He had tried a blonde, a redhead, and blue hair, being skinny, or curvy in many different combinations. Right now he was going for, Pixie cut tinker bell.

“How, how do you not like any of this!?” Mark said dramatically.

My wings were curled tightly into my body at the sight of this wide-eyed fairy-like girl. Any boy would probably love to do things with her. But of course, I’m not like every boy. And no matter what Mark did I wasn’t going to fall for any of it.

“Hey Ethan”

Mark's voice snapped me out of my thoughts, he was still staring at me, looking like one of my creepy childhood fairytale characters.

“You tried masturbating yet?”

I choked on my spit, why did Mark always have to resolve with finding another way to make me blush or feel uncomfortable.

“No” I stated firmly, knowing that I was telling the truth.

Frankly, I never had the time even if I wanted to, which obviously I don’t! But still, if I did, there is no time in the day for that I always have to be cautious of Dan. He is the most important thing, my responsibility.

“Ugh, you're telling the truth” Mark admitted and slumped down into a chair, his tight green dress riding up exposing his thigh.

I blushed at the mere sight of the revealed skin, not that I was attracted to it, but it was weird seeing Mark so exposed sexually.

“Just do it so I can tease you about it please, you know I won't stop asking till you do,” Mark asked, giving me puppy dog eyes.

I laughed at his begging, but I know it’s wrong and as a servant of heaven, I would never do anything remotely close to sexual no matter the urges I have boiling in my stomach. I have lasted this long, nothing could make me break, I'm sure.

Mark snapped his fingers like he had done many times before and he was back in his usual form. Red shirt, tiny red horns, long black pants and glowing red eyes. I took a moment to look him up and down before turning my attention elsewhere. Marks original form was pretty hot to be honest, the sensualness of his amber eyes and the tightness of the fabric of his shirt on his chest. Wait, what!? No, I need to not think like this, those are lustful thoughts, wrong and dirty thoughts!

“What do you think this tastes like?” Mark said, breaking me out of my internal crisis.

He was holding up a can with the words ‘Coca-Cola’ plastered on the front, with red and white colors. I had heard of pop but my parents never used to let me drink it, or if they did I cant remember. I shook my head absently not really caring about some stupid beverage. Mark gazed curiously at the can, shrugged his shoulders and then drank from it. I cringed at Mark drinking out of something unknown, what if it was old or something? I was expecting Mark to remove his lips and his face to scrunch up in disgust but that was a huge understatement to what actually happened. Mark ended up dropping the can from his hand, the liquid flowing out of it and onto his redshirt, producing a horrible stain to start spreading meanwhile the can landed roughly on the ground, spilling the liquid everywhere.

“Mark!” I exclaimed taking in the mess he had made, and I thought I was clumsy.

“It went up my nose!” Mark complained while snorting at the same time.

I chucked at the ridiculousness of this whole situation while Mark coughed and snapped his fingers cleaning up the mess.

“Ugh, this is so gross and sticky!” Mark exclaimed touching the spreading wetness on his shirt.

And without a moment's thought, Mark lifted the shirt off of his head and threw it to the ground. My eyes widened as this was the first time I had ever seen a boy with his shirt off and wow, he looked good. Rippling muscles, covered in a thin layer of liquid, making each muscle seem somehow more defined. I found myself staring at Mark has he rubbed the liquid on his chest, his fingers tracing every line and curve of himself.

“Shit, I am so sticky now” Mark whispered to himself.

“Ethan can you grab me a tissue from that table” Mark ordered but I couldn’t concentrate. It seems as if all my buried hidden secrets were choosing the worst possible time to make an appearance, who knew the first time I saw a boy with his shirt off would be the time heat starts building in my wings.

“Ethan” Mark questioned finally making me drift my eyes back up to his. I blushed at my staring hoping Mark didn’t understand what had just happened.

Mark looked down at me, expecting some sort of explanation I’d assume but I found that my throat was dry.

“Oh right um…tissue yeah tissue” I fumbled over my words, somehow managing to catch what he asked for originally.

As I leaned over to grab him a tissue from the table, I noticed my wings were slightly larger but not by much which was a good sign. I have heard from angels with there partners that when angels are ready to mate there wings become extra sensitive and slightly bigger. Along with the same reaction a human teenage boy would have, which I only learned because of those immature angels. I can’t believe humans look up to us sometimes, I suppose some of us our holy but others are just misbehaving twits.

I was struggling to grab the tissue as my body was still placed in the chair, so I was leaning over it too lazy and too incoherent from Marks sudden nudity. I was trying to stretch just enough to get it but my arm seemed to be just getting more tired and less able to reach the destination I was wishing for. I heard Mark groan from behind me, probably exhausted from watching me struggle. Mark decided to come behind me to reach over me to grab it, I guess he decided he could do it better and quicker. I felt Marks hand land on my shoulder probably to balance himself so he could lean over me to grab a tissue, but as he reached his arm out in front of me about to grasp it I heard Mark yelp and I could sense he was starting to lose his balance, as a last-minute effort to keep himself from falling over he grabbed on to my wing and tugged roughly.

A loud moan erupted from my mouth filling up the quiet room. I had never made a noise like that in my entire life. But gosh Mark's hand felt so good on my wings right now, shit I forgot about how sensitive my wings might be after Marks whole accidental striptease. It felt like pure energy was coursing through my veins, not to mention that the part of the male anatomy used to procreate was becoming harder. My feathers were tingling, making my body shudder.

Mark was frozen, his hand still placed on my wing the other on his hip. He was staring straight into my eyes which had enlarged at my loud noise. How was I going to get myself out of this one?

Mark looked like he was fully analyzing me now, his eyes darting from my face to my wings to my face again. I couldn’t stand to observe Mark at a time like this so instead I tried to ignore the sensitivity of my wings and grab the tissue Mark was previously wanting but Mark had other ideas. As I was reaching, he flipped the chair I was sitting in around so my body was directly facing his still crouched body.

“Ethan, why the hell did you make a noise like that” Mark questioned, unable to take his gaze away from my face.

I opened my mouth and closed it again, unsure of how to go about this. Mark apparently knew if I was lying so how could I tell the truth but also not give away my secret. I can’t make anything up to him, he probably knows about angel anatomy anyway since he is the mastermind of all things sin.

“Um I just was trying to warn you” I stuttered, might as well give the lying thing a try.

The annoyed look that soon graced Mark's face, told me that he knew that was bullshit.

“Really Ethan cause I know you don’t know much about sex but that sounded like a noise one of my partners would make”

I blushed at his blunt confession, I didn’t want to know about his previous partners or sexual encounters I just wanted to be out of this situation.

“I-I don’t know what you're talking about” Another lie. Did I really think this was going to help me?

Mark just blinked, the annoyance still there but something else arriving as well. I didn’t like the way he was looking at me and yet I never wanted him to stop. Maybe I was going crazy because his eyes were like crystals and I couldn’t seem to look away.

And then his expression had become pensive until his face brightened and his signature smug look appeared.

“So if it was nothing you wouldn’t mind if I tried something?” Mark bit his lip as if he had just told a really funny joke but hadn't got to the punchline yet.

I gulped, my breathing quickened but I’m sure that he won't be able to find out my secret, I’m sure he will turn into another fake barbie doll and I will be fine. And so I nod my head weighing me down and I feel the sudden urge to collapse but I don’t. Until Marks grip tightens on my wing again and a whimper unleashes itself from my mouth and I’m left wondering if I had really just produced a noise like that. Or if I was really feeling this wonderful, this guilty and shameful but oh how wonderful I felt. I felt like I was soaring and as an angel, you would think I had felt that a lot but not once in heaven had I felt this heavenly and I wanted to ask Mark to do it again until I froze. I am an angel, a servant of heaven, I must obey.

Mark wasn’t giving up though he was still caressing my feathers, sliding his fingertips against the soft peaks and I was whimpering now. Noises just like Dan had made that night, pouring out from my mouth and I felt completely helpless, and yet completely free. Completely happy, completely satisfied. I could see Marks smile growing and I could feel the punishing thoughts knocking at the inside of my head but my body didn’t seem to care. Well, for a few moments it didn’t seem to care. Now my body is spiraling downwards and I am about to crash, I need to stop this.

“Mark stop” I spoke softly trying to sound forceful but having the harsh words stuck in my throat.

Mark took his hand off of my feathers, for someone who grew up in a land where no one understands the meaning of ‘no’ he sure seemed to catch on quickly.

But a present smile was still sitting on his face, his eyebrows raised challenging me.

“Interesting Ethan all of this is very interesting” Mark stated.

I was flustered, my body was shaking with mortification. I had let a pitiful demon send me into this sinful state and yet all I could think about was his hands on my wings, dragging his nails through my feathers, making me feel something other than stress. But I can’t have it, I can’t have him and I surely can’t have these thoughts.

“Thanks for that… massage I was, enjoying it” I tried to sound genuine I really did but even I could hear the cracks in my statement, I could feel the uneasiness of my words as they rested in the air.

I was trying desperately to pretend I wasn’t getting more pleasure from that then I was but my body knew what I was denying. The throbbing between my legs, the heat spreading in my stomach. I was aroused, turned on, getting off whatever you wanted to call it, because of Mark. All of it was Mark. How Marks shirt was still off, the drying liquid making his skin appear shinier, his vibrant hypnotizing eyes.

“Massage” Mark scoffed “Yeah right Ethan don’t try to play a player”

Mark looked down at my jeans clearly noticing the tenting in them.

“So," Mark smirked "lustful and gay, never would have thought”

“I am not gay” I quickly exclaimed, as if his words were a remote control.

I had gotten used to denying it, I’ve had people tell me what I am all my life. Even the angels would call me that as an insult.

Mark put up his hands, thankfully removing them from my wings, making my thoughts a little clearer.

“Hey I’m not judging, I swing both ways, I just didn’t think a decent angel as yourself would fancy me, I mean me a demon of everything” Mark laughed and the words ‘fuck you’ got stuck in my throat.

“Here's the thing about being a demon sweetheart, I know all things sexual which means I know when angels get aroused there wings become sensitive” Mark winked at me.

I was going to get up, I swear I was but I felt pinned down. I felt like someone had dropped a rock on my chest, cutting off my airway. And I felt guilty, guilty for knowing his words are true, guilty for feeling aroused, guilty for wishing I was anything but a decent angel at this moment.

“So all this time I spent on trying to model a perfect girl body, and really all along my original form was the only thing you wanted” Mark teased.

My heart sunk further into my chest, my vision started to sway and I was remembering what it felt like to lose control. Except I could get up if I wanted to, I could get up right now and go, so why wasn’t I? Why was I letting him talk to me like this, I am an angel, I am special, I am important.

Except was I? Am I? Decent, special…important, am I really any of those things? Nobody knows me, nobody cares about me, nobody asks about me.

Mark seemed to be getting worried I think at this point. Because he wasn’t speaking anymore, his words had turned to sand in his mouth and his eyes had softened. Was I so pathetic I didn’t even deserve Marks relentless teasing, Am I that pathetic?

“Hey Ethan,” Mark crouched down so his face was eye level with me in the chair I was still sitting in.

“Being gay isn’t a bad thing”

“You don’t understand” I whispered, my tone shaking.

“It’s wrong, I’m wrong and dirty” I let my thoughts escape, why not tell Mark? He knew my other secret might as well let him in on my thoughts about myself.

Mark’s expression was confusing to me because I wanted to believe he didn’t have a caring bone in his body. But right now, he just looked sad.

“No, Ethan that is not it at all, just because I’m a demon doesn’t mean that you have to be a demon to be allowed to be gay, and anyway it’s allowed in heaven I’ve heard such things” Mark exclaimed, placing his hands on my knees.

“You don’t get it! Heaven is not like that, the angels are mean they taunt and they pick on the weak! You get to be bad in Hell I don’t get to be anything except for holy!” I responded picking at a hole in my shirt.

I can’t believe I am sharing this with Mark. But gosh, he is the first person who has even taken interest in me. Who has ever wanted to comfort me? So blame me all you want for being weak but dammit I don’t care.

“Ethan, there is nothing wrong with you, people will always be assholes, it's just their nature, all you are learning is that even when people die they are still assholes” Mark explained.

I chuckled, Mark had a good point there. Maybe people will just always be assholes no matter what plain they live on.

“You are everything that you want to be, so what if you're gay? That is not all that is you! You are an angel, you are a servant and you just happen to like guys muscles, which I completely understand cause damn guys have good muscles”

I smirked at this statement. Mark was right some guys did have really good muscles, I suppose being gay might not be all that bad, not when I had a hot shirtless guy standing directly in front of me telling me it was ok.

“Ok, now angel give me a hug and let's be done with this sappy bullshit cause we need to get ready to fight some prepubescent assholes” Mark stated, and got up from his crouching position.

I rolled my eyes but nodded, happy to tell someone my feelings for once. I was still shaking a little but Marks change in personality was making me feel less nervous about my vulnerability. I removed myself from the chair, no longer feeling restricted in it, and Mark wrapped his arms around me. One little problem, or shall I say big. My wings were still pretty sensitive from the whole conversation we had only moments before the sentiments. So you can imagine what happened when Mark touched them.

“M-Mm-MARk” I exclaimed shuddering at the electricity shooting through my body.

Mark quickly detached from me probably worried I was hurt or something, but when he had speedily realized what had happened, his eyes lit up.

My blushing face was rapidly getting hotter but the problem in my pants was starting to get annoying, it had been there for way too long.

Mark pushed me back into the chair without saying anything and climbed onto my lap, basically straddling me.

“Mark! No, we can’t-“ my words were soon followed by whimpers as Mark had started to rub against me and my new problem.

“Now Ethan” Mark began, his tone breathy with his actions still persistent.

“You need to relax for once ok?” Mark tried saying it sweetly but it turned to be more of a demand than a request.

“Mark, do you know how wrong this is, being with another man, especially a demon, what will happen if I get caught-“

Mark pushed down harder onto my lap, and choked moans spilled from my mouth at the new sensations my body had never experienced before. Mark leaned in closer to my ear, his breath hot against my skin.

“I won’t tell if you won’t” he whispered, confidence overshadowing any nervousness that might have been there.

I gulped at his words ultimately they turned me on. This was wrong and sinful but I didn’t care.

Mark continued to rub against me, I could now feel his dick through his pants, rubbing against my throbbing erection. The thought that we were both hard was almost too much to think about.

“Besides Ethan,” Mark said stopping his movements to release a deep moan that sent my stomach turning.

“I’m just giving you a really good massage remember?” Mark said, a smile tugging at his lips.

I full on laughed at this, even in this moment Mark knew how to make me laugh, what an idiot.

“Yeah I real-really good massage” I stuttered, my hips bucking into his now.

I could feel myself getting closer to what I could only assume was a release of some kind. All I knew was I wanted Mark's hand back on feathers, scrapping his nails down each one. I grabbed his hand without warning and placed it gently on my wings, Mark appeared to be confused but only for a moment. Soon he started to pull at my feathers, making me whimper with want. Gosh, why did that feel so good? I leaned forward unable to concentrate with all of the pleasure consuming me. I found myself resting my head on Mark's shoulder, I had never been so close to his body. He smelled like cinnamon and detergent, mixing in with the Coca-Cola of course, which he still had yet to clean off. He smelled delicious, like apple pie delicious, fresh baked cookies delicious.

Subconsciously, I parted my lips and let my tongue dart out just to get a taste of his collarbone. I heard Mark let out a tiny gasp but he didn’t push me off, so I decided this time to instead kiss the indent of his collarbone. He started to speed up his movements, clearly, I was doing something he liked. And his fingers kneading through my wings were really starting to get to me, almost more than the hip rotations. So I began to use instinct to guide me. I had never done any of this before but this seemed to be more comfortable to me then taking classes up in heaven. So as I neared even closer, my stomach tightening and my wings shuddering, I began to nip and suck at Marks flesh, tracing one of his dimples with my tongue. He mewled at my actions and sped up, leaving us both panting, occasionally letting out whimpers.

“M-Mark I’m close” I spoke into his neck.

“Yes, come for me, angel you're doing so good” Mark whimpered, thrusting harder.

My mind reeled at the praise coming from Mark, somehow it had made me become even closer to releasing, seconds away.

I was about to warn Mark again but my words got lost when he dug all of his fingers into the center of my wings, catching me off guard. I practically growled, and with that, I was feeling myself spiral into pure bliss. Pleasure overtaking me, all my worries seemed to float away and I was left hanging. I tried bucking a few more times but stopped after I got too sensitive, something I didn’t know would happen before.

One problem was pulsating in my mind though.

I just had sex with a demon.

And I liked it.


	4. Reckless Fights and Massages

After the whole incident, I couldn't even look at Mark. My entire body was trembling with shame, guilt, and fear. How could I have let this happen? How could I have let Mark do this to me? But really it wasn't Marks fault, it was mine. I should have told him to stop, I should have pushed him off of me praying to the council for forgiveness. But instead, I didn't. I let him caress my wings, I let him rut into me and I enjoyed it.

And that's why I was ignoring him. It had been a few days since we had got off together, and I had been taking extensive measures to make sure I was never alone in a room with him. I knew he wouldn't bring it up if Dan was with us so I used that to my advantage. Telling him that Dan needed me since the fight and that I needed to be there in case he needed a shoulder to cry on. Mark obviously could tell something was up, could see the hesitation on my face whenever he asked if everything was ok. As if I could even trust him at all. But now, we were getting ready to go find Dan's bullies, it was time to teach those assholes a lesson, and sure I was nervous. Nervous that this wasn't good, that I was teaching Dan violence was ok, but I couldn't block out the voice in my head saying 'go for it anyway'. Every time I saw the faint bruises scattered on his body, my blood boiled and I couldn't help but clench my fists.

"You ready?" Mark questioned Dan.

Dan, for the first time in a while looked confident. He looked like he was absolutely ready.

"So ready" Dan confirmed his smile filling up his face.

I should probably be worried that he is so excited about fighting people but I decided this wasn't the time to bring it up.

"Now guys, nothing to extreme right?" My voice quivered Dan and Mark looked at each other and smirked before nodding at me. Yeah, sure I trusted that.

"I'm serious, I don't need broken bones on my hands to heal ok?"

Again Dan and Mark just nodded, I rolled my eyes, I guess I'd have to accept that.

"Are you sure you're going to be ok helping me Ethan? You are pretty nice I'm not sure you would scare them" Mark teased but there was an undertone of realness.

I scoffed, "I'll be fine"

Dan threw open his window curtains, and his eyes lit up.

"There they are heading up the street! I told you they walk this way every Saturday!" Dan told us, running to his door.

Mark and I followed quickly behind him, only to find Dan stopped at his front door. He was now frowning, his previous excited smile gone. There was the fear I was waiting for.

"Hey buddy" I started "we don't have to go through with this if your not 100% sure" I suggested, waiting for him to nod and head back upstairs.

But instead, he took a deep breath and shook his head.

"No, I need to do this" Dan bit his lip, obviously still worried but I could see the determination in his eyes.

Dan was extremely stubborn, once he made up his mind about something he would do it, there was no stopping him. Sometimes I wished I had that courage. Dan slowly opened up his front door, and made his way outside. Mark and I watched from the doorframe, knowing the plan already. We watched the two boys Dan was talking about coming closer to him, my heart raced with nerves, what if this was a bad idea? One of the boys had short brown hair, and was taller then the other who had short black hair. Both of them were smirking evilly and I couldn't wait to wipe that expression off of there faces. We watched as Dan intercepted the two boys.

"What do we have here? A little homo just waiting for us to beat him up again" The taller one cackled and pushed up his sleeves, like some bully from a cheesy cartoon. 

"I thought you learnt your lesson last time homo!" The one with black hair, placed his hand on Dans chest and pushed hard.

Dan stumbled for a moment but regained his stance, I could see his lip quivering. I glanced back at Mark who looked as angry as I felt, though I could tell he was waiting for the cue.

"Don't call me that asshole" Dan's voice was soft but I could hear the rage behind them.

The two boys looked a little taken aback, I guess Dan doesn't usually respond like that. There faces contorted from surprise to sneers.

"You guys are horrible people and no one even likes you, so maybe you should just leave me alone to deal with your own problems" Dan continued his tone becoming stronger.

I smiled at his growing strength, Dan was a lot different from when I first met him.

"Oh is that so? Who the hell is going to back up a little homo!?" The taller one stepped closer to Dan, looking like he was about to punch him.

I nudged Mark, trying not to notice the electricity that sizzled my skin at the contact with his arm. This was not the time, we needed to help Dan. Both Mark and I stomped over to Dan and put our arms around him.

"Hey are these guys giving you a hard time Dan?" Mark spoke sharply, his eyes sending daggers to the boys.

"Yeah do we need to show them what happens when you don't treat people right?" I asked, my tone suggesting that showing them would entail pain on there end.

The boys looked petrified and I almost laughed. I guess seeing two older kids come out of nowhere to threaten them would be pretty terrifying.

"Not if they leave me alone from now on" Dan stated and raised his eyebrows at the boys.

Without saying anything they both looked at each other, seeming to communicate with there eyes. After a few moments the taller one cleared his throat.

"How much did you pay these idiots to back you up?"

I gritted my teeth, pay us? What is wrong with these kids!?

Mark stepped closer to them, "probably as much as your mom got paid last night when she was with me"

I almost choked on my spit. Wow Mark that was immature but hilarious at the same time. Especially based on the change of expressions on the kids face, almost believing him. Dan was holding back laughter just like I was, I bit my lip trying to remain serious. The kid was looking really pissed off now, his friend staying silent in the background probably just wanting to leave. I thought he was going to kill Mark but instead he stepped even closer to Dan and grabbed his shirt, pulling up on it he put his face even closer to Dan's face and said,

"I'm going to make your life hell faggot"

My skin was burning up, how dare they call him that!? Memories flashed through my head of being bullied when I was younger that same word being thrown at me, but somehow I was never this angry when I was younger. Never this angry until I heard him call Dan that. I could feel energy rushing through my body, like nothing I had ever felt before, It was like I was being electrified. Without thinking I grabbed the boy and threw him onto the ground with strength I didn't know I had. The fear on his face only urging me on. I leaned down and pulled his shirt up just like he did with Dan, and drew my face as close to his as I could.

"Don't you fucking call him that ever again" My vision was going blurry with how mad I was, I could hear nothing but the sound of the kids breathing and my own.

"You ever lay a hand on him again and I will end you" I snarled and I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do more to this kid.

So instead of overthinking the consequences I let my bad side overthrow my good one and I punched him directly in the face. Then I let go off his shirt, and took in the mess I created. This 14 year old boy laying on the ground, blood dripping from his nose. And I had never felt so out of control. I panted, confused at how out of breath I was, as he picked himself off of the ground and started to run, the black haired boy racing after him. I blinked rapidly staring down at the hand I had done the damage with.

"Ethan" Mark said softly, like he was stunned.

I turned around to look at them, worried they would back away from me in fear. But instead they were in awe, amusement playing in there eyes.

"You're such a badass!" Dan exclaimed, and ran up to me, his arms engulfing me in a tight warmth.

What? Badass....but I just hit someone in the face....on purpose! Shouldn't they be afraid of me right now, what if I do it to them!? I gazed at Mark but he seemed to be speechless, his red eyes raking over my body until he got up to my eyes and stared for a moment. My face heated up and I glanced away, remembering the last time he stared into my eyes. Dan stopped hugging me but his smile was seemingly bigger.

"The way you punched him and the whole "I will end you!" thing was so cool! I never knew you had it in you!" Dan said, his eyes sparkling.

I groaned low in my throat, how did I let myself lose control? This wasn't cool at all the council upstairs is not going to be happy with my violence. Violence was for demons not for angels, we are supposed to stay calm under pressure.

"Wait, I'm going to grab my camera I want to remember this moment!" Dan exclaimed, way to overexcited.

He tore away from us and went back inside his house. I sighed and rubbed my head, not quite comprehending what just happened. When I looked back at Mark, he was still staring at me, his mouth agape.

"What?" I asked annoyed at his lack of speech.

"T-That was..." Mark stuttered

I nodded exasperated. "That was stupid" I finished for him.

"That was hot" He corrected.

My heart stuttered, Mark thought it was hot? Me losing control over everything? I bit my lip in order to not to reply to the obvious flirt. Mark stepped in my direction, his usual smirk reappearing on his face.

"You taking dominance like that, god it was super hot" Mark softly said running his fingers through his hair.

I shifted my eyes, feeling uncomfortable at how sticky the air felt. My stomach also was churning but somehow not in a bad way. Mark was continuing to walk towards me until he was an inch away from touching me. My lungs felt like they were filling with water, almost as if I was drowning. Maybe this is why I hated Mark so much because he made me feel just as out of control as I did in that fight. That feeling is not in my programming.

"You are hot" Mark licked his lips briefly.

I was still peering down at his chest, way to nervous at this point to look into the red orbs waiting for me.

"Ethan"

Just with the simple mention of my name I looked up to meet his gaze, wow now I was being controlled by Marks voice, what was happening to me!? Now looking into those amber eyes I felt my heart flutter into my throat, not helping with the drowning feeling.

"You are hot" Mark stated with complete sincerity.

My fingers felt numb, no one has ever called me hot. No one has ever complimented me at all actually. Well when I was a human I got called smart or handsome but never as an angel, never in heaven. I was always adequate just good enough to be a soldier. Never hot. And as I stared deep into those beautiful eyes, I forgot about every rule I was supposed to be following. And then, I felt Marks lips on my own. My eyes widened but I didn't pull away, instead I closed them and grabbed his face. My hands cradling the sides of his face, his beard scratching against my skin. Our lips seemed to fit so well, and when he licked my upper lip I never realized it would feel so right.

"Hey, guys! I got the-" Dan's voice broke our moment and I pulled away from Mark.

"Guys?" Dan's voice was full of surprise.

"We were just...I mean we didn't..." I tried to come up with an excuse but really there was only one explanation.

Dan's expression shifted to joy, making my brain spin.

"You guys are together! That's so great!" Dan exclaimed, I shook my head almost subconsciously.

No, we were not together! No! I glanced over at Mark trying to get some help, but all Mark did was smirk and put his hands on his hips. Useless my brain supplied, and I agreed this ridiculously hot demon is fucking useless.

“We are not together Dan” I groaned, though the idea of Mark and I together didn’t gross me out as much as it used too.

Maybe because that kiss was full of passion, full of something I couldn’t quite place as well. It seemed so real, like Mark was pouring all of his feelings into that kiss, maybe I’m just delusional.

“Now can we please take that picture?” I asked hopefully Dan would just let this slide.

Dan gave both of us a questioning look but just shrugged his shoulders, still with a smile on his face. He walked over to us and pushed both of us closer together, I was about to question what he was doing but I soon discovered it was just so all of us could fit in the frame of the camera. So now my arm was being shoved into Marks side, and I could feel his breath on my neck and nothing was making sense.

“Ok guys, smile, this will be the signifier that we defeated those assholes!” Dan exclaimed.

Both Mark and I smiled just at Dan’s words but before we could prepare, a flash stung my eyes and I could feel them watering a bit. Dan excitedly clicked some buttons on the camera, his eyes shining with happiness.

“This is one for the scrapbooks!” Dan said merrily.

I rolled my eyes but patted Dan's shoulder, I was happy that he was so happy. It had been the first time in a while since he got attacked, that he actually smiled that brightly.

On the other hand, now I couldn’t even look at Mark, couldn’t even think about the kiss. Because my stomach is fluttering and my heart is still racing and I don’t want to think about what that says about me. I could say I don’t like him anymore, I could say the reason why we kissed was just because of this new found need of mine but I think even I know my restraint is higher then that and if I wanted to stop I would have said so.

* * *

 

Dan had just left for school as I settled into the chair in the corner, I needed to focus on what my goals were in this mission. I had been here for quite some time with Dan and Mark, five months I think. I only have a month left before I have to do a progress report for the council so they can see if I am having an impact on Dan. So far Dan has been great, he hasn’t done anything horribly wrong. I feel if anything Mark should be more worried then I am but then again demons don’t really get in much trouble if they fail, maybe they get scolded or something but when angels fail there entire world collapses. I can’t afford to fail my first mission, thankfully I think Dan has always been on the right path so my odds were looking quite good right now.

So why was I so stressed all the time? Why are the muscles in my back tense pretty much 24/7, and don’t even get me started on my neck, which is pretty much strained always. Maybe its cause of the whole Mark situation, stress does do weird things to my body. Gives me continuous headaches, body pains and horrible exhaustion even though I can't sleep so I just have to suffer. I just didn’t understand how I could let Mark be my first sexual experience, I always assumed it would be a pretty, holy angel. Maybe if I got past the shame, a guy angel, As I am sure I am not the only gay angel out there. It would be slow and romantic, we would kiss each other gently and we would love each other. Instead, I got dirty and quick, though I can’t say it wasn’t sweet. I think the fact I didn’t really mind the change in my expectations was the thing worrying me the most.

Mark walked into the room, snapping me out of my deep thoughts. We still hadn’t talked about the kiss or the sex. Which was fine by me, if I ignored it then I didn’t have to admit it happened.

“Hey, angel, what do you remember before you died?”

His question surprised me, why did he even care? I suppose I should answer him truthfully though since he did about the whole hell topic.

“Um not much, I’ve forgotten pretty much all of my previous life” I answered, still not looking Mark in the eyes.

Mark was standing in the doorway, with a pensive look on his face.

“Then tell me, what is heaven like?” Mark asked, deciding to finally sit down on Dan's bed.

I pondered for a moment, was I allowed talking about heaven with a demon? I guess this wouldn’t be the worst thing I had done since I’ve been here.

“Well the whole bright light shit is completely true” I provided, making Mark chuckle.

“But really, heaven is boring, you don’t get to do anything fun its all about work” I explained, picking at my fingernails, something I’ve found I do when I’m nervous.

“So you really don’t get to do anything up there except work?” Mark questioned.

I scratched my head trying to come up with something else to give him but found there really was nothing else.

“Sorry, like I said heaven is extremely boring”

Mark sunk lower into the bed, he almost looked disappointed as if he was expecting heaven to be a party or something.

“So you were being serious before, no sex at all in heaven?” Mark asked.

My face flushed a little bit and I searched Marks face for a smirk but I found that there was no trace of one. He looked very serious as if he was actually curious about the breeding happening in heaven.

“Well not entirely, sex is seen as a very sacred act in heaven,” I began “it is not to be taken lightly, it is usually for procreating”

Marks eyes widened slightly, and the smirk I was waiting for came out the tiniest bit.

“You're telling me no one does it for pleasure, only for making more angel slaves”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“Servants asshole, not slaves, and no, angels don’t do it for pleasure”

Mark hummed and went back to staring into the distance, why did Mark care so much about this?

“You see angel, this is surprising but not shocking seeing as all angels I have heard about sound like stuck up dicks”

I slanted my eyes but just shrugged. It wasn’t like we were all very nice, but we weren’t trained to be nice. We were trained to fight and get jobs done.

“Yeah well, all demons I have heard about were supposed to be low life scum that sucks all the joy from your life” I smiled, a completely fake smile.

Mark raised his eyebrows at my tone but was still smirking.

“Again not shocking”

I snorted at that, quickly covering my face embarrassed. As I moved my arms though, my back stretched the wrong way and I groaned in pain.

Marks smirk dissolved and he looked concerned.

“Ethan, you ok?” He asked genuinely.

I wasn’t going to tell him but I decided that I might as well tell someone about how much pain I was in before I drive myself crazy.

“My back is in knots, I am in so much pain right now” I tried to laugh a little so I didn’t sound as serious, but god it really hurt.

Mark bit his lip, making my heart beat slightly faster. After a few moments, he patted the bed beside him as if I was supposed to know what that meant. I raised my eyebrows questioningly at him.

Mark rolled his eyes as if I was an idiot, and gestured for me to come over to the bed.

I begrudgingly got up, knowing it was going to be extremely painful. And I was right as I started to stand up pain shot up my back, making me whimper. I started to walk over to the bed, but right before I was about to sit down, Mark stopped me.

“Lie on your stomach” he stated.

Instead, I took a tiny step backward, why did he want me to lie on my stomach was he pranking me or something? Cause I was not in the mood for his antics.

“Ethan lie down and stop giving me that look as if I am about to stab you” Mark patted the bed again.

I dropped my eyes to the floor but hesitantly did what he said, my back cracking as I placed my stomach on the soft covers. I groaned in pain but felt slightly better now that I was horizontal. As I was starting to relax on the bed I felt Mark shift next to me, I thought maybe he was leaving until I felt two legs straddle my lower back. I lunged upwards, trying to ignore the immense pain it caused me. I whipped my head around to see Mark sitting on my waist, looking surprised at my sudden movements.

“Mark!? What are you doing!?” I exclaimed.

Mark rolled his eyes.

“What does it look like? I’m going to give you a massage” Mark answered as if it was obvious.

My skin tingled a little at the mention of the word massage, remembering the last time we talked about massages.

“Ethan I’m trying to help, I can see how much pain you're in ok?”

And with that sweet sentiment, he pushed me roughly down on the bed, not helping my suggestive thoughts. Instead of shoving him off though, which I knew would have been even more painful I decided to see how it was. I had never gotten a massage before, no one had ever offered.

I tried to relax into the bed but the fact Marks crotch was pretty much on my lower back was not helping with my thoughts. This might just make me more stressed, maybe I should just tell Mark to fuck off-

Oh. Oh shit, that feels so good. Marks hands were slowly kneading my shoulders, I had to hold back from making any noises. His hands were light on my back and he was applying just the right amount of pressure, everything was feeling amazing. A tiny whimper escaped my mouth but I quickly shut it so nothing else could come out. I heard Mark chuckle as he began to rub my sides, which were very tender.

“You can make noises angel”

My face went red at his words. This did not sound very innocent if Dan was to walk in or someone else, this would not look very platonic. Instead of focusing on that though I tried to concentrate on the wonderful sensations Mark was bringing me. I let a few more noises spill from my throat and I tried to be less embarrassed about them.

As Mark got lower and lower on my back, the better it seemed to feel. He had massaged the base of my wings but I told him that would be enough. It didn’t feel very good to have your wings touched when you weren’t aroused, it feels way to intimate. Mark just hummed and moved on to another part of my back, not pushing it. Now he was getting to my waist and I could feel heat pooling in my abdomen a little bit but I ignored it, I’m sure it was nothing.

“Ethan?” Marks soft voice broke the silence of the room.

“Hm?” I mumbled, way too relaxed to speak properly.

“I’d be able to get a better grip if I went under your shirt if that's ok?” Mark asked.

I hummed in agreement, not truly thinking about what I was agreeing to. So when I felt Marks strong hands sliding underneath my shirt, I didn’t expect myself to have such a reaction. I groaned loudly, and I didn’t even care because damn his hands on my bare back felt incredible.

The only problem I seemed to be facing was that I could feel my wings tingling, which only meant one thing. I was getting turned on. If that wasn't evidence enough my member was becoming increasingly harder as he dug into my skin.

My eyes snapped open, how was I going to get out of this? What if Mark touches my wing again accidentally, I can’t let him know I am turned on. He will get the wrong idea, or he will take advantage, I can't go through this again. As all my worries were flying through my head, Mark nudged my wing sending electricity shooting through me just like last time.

“Mark!” I gasped out, Marks hands on my waist stilled.

“What?”

Even though I didn’t want to stop this, I knew I would get too far into it and everything would be ruined.

“Thanks for the massage but I think I’m good now” I explained, I wasn’t lying my back felt amazing.

I shifted my torso to look at Mark, he looked slightly confused and I could tell his face was a little bit red probably from me randomly shouting at him. Instead of asking questions though he just nodded and removed his hands from my back. He placed his hands on either side of the bed and lifted himself off, so I was finally free from the restraints of Mark.

“You know you can roll over right Ethan” Mark stated, examining my weird positioning.

Actually, I couldn’t. My problem was still present and also if I rolled over my wings might rub against the bedsheets which really wouldn’t help me.

“Actually I think I’m going to do some mindfulness since I am feeling so relaxed,” I told him, trying to appear calm though even I could tell my voice sounded shaky.

Mark raised an eyebrow but just smirked.

“Ok princess get your beauty sleep” He teased.

I rolled my eyes but motioned for him to leave, I really did want to be alone. He nodded, still not moving.

“Mark leave unless you're into watching people sleep?” I asked my tone surprising me.

Mark’s eyes enlarged, his cheeks becoming rosy. Oh my god, I made Mark blush! Finally, I made him uncomfortable, I should celebrate. Remembering my state though I decided I would throw it in his face later.

“Bye angel” Mark awkwardly said and headed out the door closing it on his way out.

Even though my wings were practically vibrating and my problem was still present, I decided I would just 'sleep' it off. I was really tired from that whole experience and Mark really did help me out, I would have to thank him again later.

So I closed my eyes and let my mind drift off, going into factory shut down mode, where everything was calm.

* * *

_Mark was straddling my waist, his breathing was laboured  My hands were sliding up and down his hips. What was even weirder though was his hand was wrapped around my dick, making me squirm._

_“Mark, that feels so good, don’t stop!” I called out_

_Mark smirked down at me and continued to rub me, my body was writhing around, moans slipping from my mouth._

_“Don’t stop” I told him again, now bucking into his touch._

_“M-mark!”_

_I could feel myself becoming closer and closer to release, his hand was starting to feel better and better until I was moments away from release, all of a sudden I could see myself from a bird's eyes view lying on the bed with Mark._

My eyes flew open, and I was panting heavily. I looked all around me but the scenery was different I was in Dan's room on his bed and Mark was nowhere to be seen. I blinked confusedly and rubbed my head.

“Dream?” I muttered my voice scratchy.

I didn’t even think angels could have dreams like that, whenever I went into shut down mode it was always full of nothingness. My curiosity about the situation could wait though as I felt my throbbing member pushing up against my jeans.

I groaned, I thought it would go away. I guess that dream triggered it back again. Guilt filled my stomach, that dream was extremely sinful, I can't believe my subconscious would let me think such things. Now Mark was even plaguing my dreams? What did I do to deserve this?

I couldn’t focus, the heat in my abdomen was becoming hotter and hotter and I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t do anything. So without thinking about it I reached down and placed one of my hands on the outside of my pants and pushed down. A strangled moan erupted from my mouth, I did it again and another moan fell from my mouth. It felt like electricity was shooting through my arms, and so I decided to properly cup my bulge and rub. It felt amazing, the constant pleasure pulsating through my body. I continued to rut against my hand, as my thoughts changed back to my dream. Mark above me, making me feel dizzy with his hand on my dick.

“Shit Mark…” I whispered and rubbed harder, feeling myself coming closer to that release I was denied in my dream.

Marks abs ran through my mind, every curve of skin becoming stuck in my head. His illuminating eyes staring into mine.

“Fuck” I hissed out as I felt stickiness fill my underwear, probably going to stain it.

I felt like I was floating for a moment, everything becoming blurry around me as I gave a few more feeble strokes. Until it became sensitive and I stopped. I tried not to think about what I just did, though it seemed like I couldn’t move or else I’d have to admit that I just masturbated, but not only that, I masturbated to the thought of a demon. When did I fall into a pit of sin? When did I lose track of who I was?

Trying not to go into crisis mode I snapped my fingers, instantly changing my pants and underwear. A cool trick, angels can do. Now that I was physically clean, why did I still feel so dirty? Probably because I had completely gone off the deep end and not because of anyone else's fault, this was all mine. 


	5. I Needed Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I glared harsher into Marks stupid red eyes, not seeing anything beautiful in them anymore. The red color just taunted me now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DRAMA ALERT :)

I could overhear Dan and Mark talking in the room next to me, it had been a week since I…well I….gosh I couldn’t even say it. It was so wrong and I’ll never do it again, no matter how good it felt.

Mark hadn’t brought up the massage though I made sure to thank him again for helping me out. My back was feeling amazing now, not like before when it felt like daggers were being held against it.

Mark and Dan had been hanging out all day since it was Saturday, playing video games whereas I decided to spend my day reading. Up in heaven, I didn’t get much time to read anything but Life management pamphlets, which just like everything else in heaven were super boring. But down here Dan had multiple books about vampires and love stories. Human books were so interesting, how people could make up things and put them into words so brilliantly.

As I read another story about a princess and a prince, I listened to Mark and Dan screaming at each other, something about weapons. I chuckled as I scanned the words on the page, sounds of guns in the background. As I finished the page, where the princess had just fallen into a pond, I became curious about the two boys in the room over. So I placed the book onto my chair and made my way over to the living room, I was about to walk in and ask what they were playing when I heard Dan say something that made me stop.

“So about Ethan”

I halted in the doorway, what was Dan going to say? Did he not like me anymore was he going to ask Mark if I could get reassigned somewhere else? My heart pounded in my chest.

“What about him?” Mark answered, not sounding very interested.

“He is pretty special isn’t he?”

My heart stopped racing and I smiled. Dan thought I was special?

“What do you mean?” Mark asked hesitantly, probably not understanding why Dan was asking him this.

“Well you guys seem like your close now is all”

I heard Mark take a sharp intake of breath, I started to pick the peeling paint of the door as I awaited his answer.

“Yeah I suppose he is pretty special”

My fingers stopped picking at the door, Mark thought I was special too?

“He is very-“

As Mark was about to go on my foot creaked one of the floorboards sending a loud noise throughout the room, panicking I stepped back from the doorway so they couldn’t see me. Trying to make it seem like I was just walking in to greet them I took a few steps back and then proceeded to come into the room.

“Hey guys, whatcha playing?” I tried to ask nonchalantly.

Both of them looked at me suspiciously but I held my cover well, I had learned a few tricks for lying since Mark has been around.

Eventually, they both just shook there heads, coming to the conclusion it was just the old house.

“Call of Duty” Dan answered, turning back around to the TV to focus on the game.

Mark gave me another once over but I just looked at him curiously. Mark rolled his eyes but turned back to the TV as well, they started to ignore me and I decided this wasn’t worth my time.

I waved goodbye even though I knew they couldn’t see me and I left the room, screams starting again behind me.

* * *

“Why do you think angels and demons are divided?” Mark asked me,

Our insightful conversations had become a regular thing now, yesterday I asked him about how hell assigned demons children.

“Well isn’t it obvious? Angels are very self-righteous and Demons are heathens” I responded half-jokingly but also half serious.

Mark smiled sarcastically, “Haha, very funny, I mean why don’t we all just live together and figure it out from there?”

I bit my lip. Live together? Demons and Angels?

“Mark you said it yourself, demons have no rules, angels have too many it would never work!”

Mark threw his hands up in the air.

“Exactly my point! Its chaos in both sanctuaries, angels are bored out of there minds and I always have something bad I could be doing” Mark stated,

“If demons and angels lived amongst each other, we could discuss rules, I’m sure not all demons want to be bad and not all angels want to be good all the time”

I thought about it, he isn’t wrong. Its tiring having to be considered holy to everyone, it would be nice to not think about what I’m saying for once, like when I’m with Mark.

“We are all such powerful creatures though, how would order be kept?” I asked now intrigued by this idea Mark was bringing forth.

Mark’s eyes shone with passion, he clearly had thought about this already.

“A council made up of both angels and demons, with two main leaders who are also a demon and an angel, that way both parties have a voice in the matter” Mark concluded, lacing his hands together and bringing them to his lap.

He must’ve of thought about this a lot, I always thought demons didn’t care about rules or regulations but I guess some actually do.

We were both sitting on Dan’s bed as Mark scooted a little closer to me. In a matter of seconds, I felt the light atmosphere become heavier around us.

“I bet heaven needs to be a taught a lesson about the wonders of sex as well Ethan,” Mark’s voice was lower and he placed his hand on my knee “don’t you agree Angel?”

I shivered at his tone, wondering how Mark so easily flicked into different personalities like a light switch.

“And who else better to teach then demons, who are pretty much made up of sexual energy along with the six other sins” Mark was whispering now, his breath smelled of spearmint.

His face was getting closer to my neck and every part of my body except for my heart was telling me to move, to shove him back. But I didn’t, I let his words overtake me.

“Personally I can imagine myself being quite interested in teaching at least one angel how _good_ it can feel to be _bad_ ” Mark purred, his lips against my neck at this point.

“w-who” I mumbled even though I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

“Guess,” Mark said in a hushed tone

Without getting a chance to answer, Mark started to kiss up my neck, his soft lips moving quickly against my skin. His beard scraping against my neck as he moved diligently, then he started to stop and suck the skin for a moment, sending a fluttery feeling rushing through my chest. The act was almost intimate, almost as if we actually were together.

A ringing started to play in my ears, and Mark detached his lips from my neck almost instantly. I sighed quietly hoping he didn’t hear it, surprisingly he didn’t. In fact, his entire body seemed to tense up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. All demons and Angels have one of these cell phones, it is used to converse with our homelands if there is an emergency or if information needs to be shared. I’ve made mine invisible, just in case Dan was to find it or something. No human is supposed to know we have these phones, just for privacy reasons. These phones were also flip phones, which I found ridiculous seeing as there were new advances in technology in the human world that we could be using too but I guess Hell and Heaven are both old souls. Mark sent me a small smile as he flipped it open and left the room, I understood why he couldn’t take the call with me right there, it was demons private business. Though the fact Mark looked so weary as he pulled out his ringing phone didn’t make me feel very comforted. I cared about Mark, I hoped he wasn’t in trouble or something.

Instead of sitting on the bed worrying I decided I was going to go grab a book from the living room, the feeling of Marks lips on my neck was still present as if he was still there. At this point I didn’t think Mark kissing me would get me in any more trouble, and all of the things Mark was saying about teaching me a lesson got me, as the humans call it ‘hot and bothered’. Though I would never admit that to anyone but myself, much as I would only admit to myself that I masturbated.

As I wandered out of the room in search of a new imaginary adventure to go on, I heard my name from inside the bathroom. I stopped walking, was Mark calling for me? I stepped closer to the bathroom door, which was slightly open and I could see Mark talking on the phone from the reflection in the mirror. I heard more mumbling and then my name gets mentioned again, why was Mark talking about me? I cautiously got closer to the door, so I could properly hear the conversation, it’s not like I wanted to eavesdrop, I just think I have a right to hear what is being said about me.

“Yeah I’m really close,” Mark said in a hushed tone, clearly not wanting anyone else to hear.

“I’ve almost got him” Mark stated.

My eyebrows furrowed, got who? Dan perhaps? Maybe his overlords want him to purge Dan deeper into sin or something.

“Don’t worry, pretty soon the angel will be corrupted I know what I’m doing”

With that one sentence, my heart stopped. Actually, physically stopped.

“He was easy, almost too easy, he’ll be on our side in no time at all” Mark laughed quietly.

I could hear him, I could hear every word flicking out of his mouth and yet I wanted to believe it was someone else. I wanted to believe that this entire time, his sweet words and gentle touches had been real. That he had not been lying to get me to come over to hell, to be his stupid fucking trophy.

“Yes, of course, I’ll give you an update later, yes goodbye” In the mirror, I could see Mark flip his phone closed, a loud sigh floating from his mouth.

But that's not what I was focused on, instead, I was trying so hard not to cry. I wouldn’t give him the damn satisfaction of making me cry. But on the other hand, I wanted him to see how much he hurt me, to see the pain he has put me in. I was persistently staring at the ground now, unable to bring myself to walk away.

“Ethan?” Marks voice sounded surprised.

“Why are you…what are you doing out here?” Mark asked still unaware of the situation probably.

Without speaking I lifted my head, and Mark gasped. I stared directly into his eyes, trying to show how mad I was without speaking. But I found that I couldn’t wait any longer.

“How could you” My voice was filled with pure hatred, unlike anything I had ever heard before.

Mark seemed to be speechless, finally realizing what I was talking about.

“Shit, you heard the call” Mark stated almost breathlessly.

“How fucking could you! You giant prick!” I screamed at him, my tears flowing now like waves down my face.

Mark was clutching the phone in his hand so hard his knuckles were turning white, he still didn’t speak making me even more agitated.

“Easy huh? I was so easy, right? You said just the right thing and I was yours huh Mark!?”

“No Ethan I didn't-“

“Call them back Mark, let's give them a fucking update, tell them it's going well that the pathetic angel has finally come around!” My body was shaking but I couldn’t stop walking towards him, my fists held tightly at my sides because although I was in pain, I still cared too much to put someone else in it, even if they have been playing me this entire time.

“I thought maybe just maybe you actually cared about me, god I am such a fucking idiot, when you called me special with Dan was that just a lie Mark, was everything just a lie!?”

I didn’t want an answer, in fact, the only thing I wanted from Mark at this point, was to be gone. Now both of us were in the bathroom, the back of his knees pressed up against the tub, his eyes wide.

“Just get out,” I said quietly, my voice cracking around every word.

“Ethan-” Mark started

“Get out”

I glared harsher into Marks stupid red eyes, not seeing anything beautiful in them anymore. The red color just taunted me now.

I thought for a moment Mark wasn’t going to listen but he just nodded solemnly and left the bathroom, right as he left I slammed the door behind him. Tears were still pouring down my cheeks, my nose now running as well. I placed both my hands on the sink and felt my heart fully break into a million pieces, knowing there would never be a fairytale ending for someone like me. I brought my gaze up to the mirror and a shocked gasp flew from my mouth. My eyes were absolutely blue, like scarily so. Not even a normal blue either like a glowing blue orb in both of my eyes, it made them look alive except the redness appearing because of the crying altered the vibrancy of them. I guess my eyes change when I get angry, that's probably why when I looked up at Mark he gasped.

Instead of losing myself in the piercing blue color I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to feel, think, speak or see anything. I’d never felt as human as I did right now. Mark made me weak, and I used to appreciate the lack of control but now it haunts me how long I let him string me along. So I’m done with him, I’m done with the lies, I’m done.

* * *

  
The next few weeks I didn’t look at Mark once. I never talked to him and I barely thought about him. He kept trying to be alone with me probably just so he could spew more lies into my head, but I wouldn’t let him. I kept myself away from him, I took more walks then I ever had. I spent extra time helping Dan with his homework, which is what I’m doing right now.

Dan was looking at the side of my head as I was trying to explain measurement.

“Dan, you need to pay attention otherwise you’ll fail your test” I gestured down to his homework.

“Ethan, can I ask you something?” Dan said ignoring what I just said.

I tilted my head but decided if he would get to his homework right afterward then he could ask. So I nodded and awaited what he so desperately wanted to ask me.

“what happened to Mark and you?”

My lungs tightened, why did Dan have to ask that? This was the out of control feeling I didn’t like, and it was making me feel light headed.

“What do you mean?” I tried to play dumb knowing that was one of the only options I had.

Dan rolled his eyes clearly not believing that I didn’t know what he was talking about.

“You and Mark have been avoiding each other, actually you have just been avoiding Mark, I tried asking him but he won't answer me”

“It’s none of your business” I stated, instantly regretting it when I saw Dans face fall dramatically.

Dan looked down at his lap and then turned back to his desk.

“Explain this concept again” Dan pointed to a question but I could tell he was upset by the serious tone I used.

Sure I felt bad but I really couldn’t expect a 12-year-old to understand something like this, Even though I’m only 16 I still know a little more than someone his age, and also I just don’t really feel in the mood to talk about that asshole right now.

And so I started from the beginning, trying to get Dan to understand how to convert fractions to decimals.

* * *

 

It was Friday afternoon, and I was awaiting Dan's entrance back from school. Sitting on his bed I started to tap my foot impatiently, why wasn’t he back yet? It had been an hour from the time he usually gets back. Did those two bullies have something to do with it? I would never forgive myself if those two assholes hurt Dan because of what I said to them. I got up from the bed and looked out the window, expecting to see Dan running up the steps of his porch but no one was there, I looked down the street and surprisingly enough saw the two bullies walking, no Dan with them. Relief flooded through me for a moment until I realized if he wasn’t with the bullies, then where was he?

It was starting to get dark and Dan still wasn’t home, this wasn’t like him. I checked my watch again, 6:30. It was getting too late, there is no way Dan wouldn’t have called his home phone at this point to tell us if something happened, or if he was at a friends house. My heart was starting to beat faster and faster, where could he be? What if he got kidnapped or something, I can’t lose my child, I won't lose him.

Mark busted in through the door and I jumped on the bed. This was so not a good time, if he was thinking we were going to talk about what happened right now he is fucking mistaken.

“Ethan, we got to go find Dan he hasn’t been back for hours and I know you hate me ok, but right now let's push that aside to find our child”

‘Our child’ rang through my head but instead of dwelling on that I noticed how concerned Mark sounded and if it was about anything else I would have smirked and laughed about him needing my help but this was Dan and I needed him back. So I nodded and hurried off the bed, running down the stairs and out the front door, Mark leading in front of me.

Dan's house was right next to a huge forest filled with many tall trees and animals, Mark nodded in that direction and we headed straight for it. Knowing that he liked to play in there during the daytime, this was our best shot.  
An hour had passed and Mark and I still hadn’t found Dan, our throats had become dry from yelling his name and our feet were sore from jumping over tree roots.

“Maybe we should stop,” Mark said, out of breath.

“Stop!? Are you serious we need to keep looking for him!” I exclaimed.

Mark rested his hand on his thighs, clearly exhausted.

“I meant for a moment, not a century, we need a break before we keep going” Mark explained.

“Yeah well you do that Mark, but I guess I’m not that easy going” I made sure to punctuate the word ‘easy’ so he knew I was addressing what he had called me on the phone.

Mark looked down, shame written on his face.

“Ethan please let me explain that” Mark’s eyes looked soft.

I felt a lump rising in my throat.

“I don’t need to hear any more lies Mark”

Mark shook his head and came closer to me, I stepped back not wanting him to try to make a move on me.

“Ethan those were the only lies I told,” Mark said.

I squinted my eyes, what does he mean?

“I just told my boss that so he would get off my back about the mission” Mark explained, still out of breath.

I bit my lip trying to decide if he was lying or not.

“Your not easy, your complicated and that's what I like about you, your not some soldier that follows every rule you have doubts,”

I crossed my arms, not dropping my facade until I could be sure he wasn’t just trying to get me to believe in something not real.

“Maybe at first I was trying to corrupt you but that changed, when you asked about hell and you actually looked like you cared, things changed, I changed” Mark was a meter apart from me now.

I was hoping that he was lying because god I didn’t want to believe any of this, I didn’t want to be the idiot who fell twice for a demon who was just way too good at lying.

I heard some branches snap from somewhere in the distance and my head snapped in that direction. Without saying anything I started racing towards the noise, hoping with every inch of my being that it was Dan.

My heart soared as adrenaline pushed me over tree roots, hearing the crackling of leaves underneath me as I ran faster, finally getting to the place where I heard the tree branches snapping. I spun all around looking everywhere to see if Dan was here.

“E-Ethan?”

Dan's voice came out of nowhere but I was sure that it was him. It sounded like it came from…above me? I looked up and directly above me was Dan sitting in a tree, tears streaming down his face.

“Dan!? Are you ok!?” I screamed up at him noticing two tiny red gashes on his legs.

“Dan what the fuck happened!?” Mark exclaimed from behind me, I jumped not realizing Mark had followed me.

Dan sniffled and held on to the tree tighter.

“You guys came to find me?” He asked us like he didn’t believe it.

My heart dropped, why would he even think we wouldn’t come find him? Obviously, we would go search high and low to find him he is our child.

There it is, my brain supplied. Our child, again that statement had been tossed around.

“Why the hell wouldn’t we?” Mark said flabbergasted.

Dan’s lip started to quiver, and he rubbed his hands together, not looking either of us in the eyes.

“Dan?” I asked softly, really wishing he would come down from that tree.

“I-I thought,” Dan swung his legs “You guys hated me”

My mouth dropped at his words, hated him!? Me, hate Dan? That is ridiculous! Mark looked as shocked as I felt, his eyes large, making the redness in them shine brightly.

“Dan we could never hate you! How did you even get that idea?” I questioned, my heart hurt in my chest.

Dan’s chest was heaving, and I could tell he was trying hard not to cry. Or at least cry again.

“Y-you guys were acting weird and every time I asked about it I got shot down, I thought you guys hated me and that's why you were ignoring me,” Dan said softly, his words cracking around the edges.

My stomach sank, had we really been ignoring him? I hadn’t even noticed, maybe that's the point. I had been so busy trying to pay attention to anything other than Mark I had started to stop talking to Dan.

Mark put his hand on the tree, his hand was shaking slightly probably because he was just as upset as me.

“Dan just…just come down from the tree please” Mark’s voice was unsteady and I could see the pain in his eyes.

Although Dan stood up from his crouched position which made it seem like he would be coming down that didn’t happen. He shook his head instead and crossed his arms defiantly.

“No! Not until you tell me what’s going on between you two!” Dan shouted.

Both Mark and I raised our eyebrows at the volume of Dan's voice, Dan had always been so soft spoken and he rarely used attitude with us. He must really be upset.

“Dan nothing is-“

“Fine” Mark interrupted me.

I gave him a look that said ‘don’t you dare’, but Mark ignored it and placed both hands on his hips. He looked down and sighed heavily.

“It’s my fault”

I rolled my eyes, yeah obviously it was Mark’s fault. Mark took small steps in my direction, I could see how cautious he was being around me. It was like he was a scared animal. I slanted my eyes, still not trusting him.

“I fucked up badly, I told a lie that really hurt Ethan and it was wrong and-”

I crossed my arms and shook my head showing I clearly didn’t believe in what he was saying. I was about to push him away from me when he stopped in his tracks and looked me dead in the eyes as he said,

“I’m so sorry”

Mark ruffled his hair, the brown locks falling onto his forehead.

My heart stopped. Did Mark, a demon, just apologize to me? Without a bit of sarcasm or ill intent provided!? I must be dreaming, or maybe I’m having hallucinations. Demons don’t apologize to angels, demons don’t look at angels with kindness and demons don’t place there hands tentatively on angel's shoulders. And yet Mark was doing all of those things.

“W-what?” I responded unable to comprehend what he had just said to me.

“I am sorry ok? I know what I did was wrong but I promise you I am not trying to trick you” Mark began “I know that you have every right to not believe me but for the love of God whom you seem to respect immensely, let me apologize and please believe it”

All the things I wanted to say got stuck in my throat like gum gets stuck to a shoe. I was choking on, angry statements and defensive comments but none of them wanted to come out. I had only one thing to say which I think surprised me more then it would anyone else.

“I forgive you?” I mumbled to myself, it came out as a question but as I heard it in the open air I realized it was the truth.

It had been a week and a half from the whole incident and I was honestly tired of being upset, tired of hating Mark. And with everything he just said I thought it would escape through my ears and I would still feel broken from his careless words over the phone but...I didn't. I just wanted to have more deep conversations with Mark, I wanted to have his lips sighing against my skin. And it was scary, actually terrifying, acknowledging the fact that even being apart from Mark for a measly week and a half and I was already letting him back in. But it also shone some light on the fact that I really did like him, and that in one way or another, I needed him.

Mark raised his eyebrows, not hearing the epiphany I had just come too.

“What?” Mark asked quietly, still speaking carefully.

“I forgive you” I stated, leaning into Marks hand.

Marks eyelashes fluttered and his expression told me that he didn’t think that was what I was going to say. And the same brightness I saw in his eyes on the very first day reappeared, and I no longer hated the color red.

“So you guys, never wanted me out?” Dan’s meek voice interrupted all of the mismatched thoughts in my head.

We both turned to him, goofy smiles gracing both of our faces.

“Never” I declared.

And on Dan’s face a shy smile appeared, he ran his thumb through the tears drying on his face and took a tiny step towards the edge of the tree, and for once everything seemed like it was going to be alright.

Until Dan slipped.

 

 

 


	6. A Change of Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dan needs help, and Mark and Ethan will pretty much do anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I have finished another chapter! This will not be the last one, I will probably end up finishing it in the next chapter though! ENJOY :)

“Ethan help me!” Mark's voice was wobbly and garbled, it sounded like he was underwater.

It would make sense since I felt like I was drowning. Fear was coursing through me but that's not what scares me it was the eery calmness stampeding through my head, how I could feel myself losing every ounce of control and yet I felt nothing, I felt peaceful almost.

Mark was picking Dan up, blood dripping down his arm from Dan's leg. Dan was still unconscious, his face ghostly. Mark was screaming at me but my ears had stopped working apparently because all I could hear was silence. Mark grabbed my arm roughly and started to pull me while carrying Dan through the forest, he was running wildly. Suddenly like a sharp blow to the stomach, my hearing returned and the calmness was gone in seconds.

“Huh!” I gasped finally getting the air back into my lungs.

My entire body was tingling with nerves now, the period of calm before the storm was over but I knew I had to be there for Dan and Mark. I ripped my hand away from Marks and a flash of irritation went through his eyes until he saw me racing in front of him. I knew that we needed to get home. We had traveled so far into the forest though, I couldn't tell where anything was! I looked back at Mark worriedly, knowing we were in a worse situation than before. But when I looked at Mark I saw the fading color in his eyes, this was the first time I had truly seen Mark completely panic-stricken. I wracked my brain for every possible solution, I had to be strong for them, I had completely frozen earlier and I had to make up for my lack of stability and support. Images flashed in my head of all the moments I had with Dan while I stared at his bloody body. Us first meeting, his smile, the way he looked at me and wondered about my wings-wait. My wings!

Technically I wasn't supposed to use my wings unless for severe cases. I considered my child losing heaps of blood a pretty severe situation. I hadn't used my wings for such a long time, I used to fly over the heads of guards when I was younger, that's probably why they all hated me now. I was never as serious as the other children, them always having stick straight posture next to my slouch. Do I even know how to use them?

“I can fly” I spoke softly not wanting to startle Mark any more than he already was.

Mark blinked rapidly and shifted Dan getting a better grip on his body.

“W-what?” Mark's voice was hoarse from yelling at me,

“I can fly but I don't know how to” I answered, knowing that the sentence didn't really make any sense.

“That doesn't make any sense!” Marks panicky nature was starting to take over now.

“Do it now! Dan needs us, Ethan, do it for him!” Mark shouted, not making me feel any more relaxed.

“I need a burst of energy, I don't know how to conjure that like when I was a child!” I shouted back annoyed that I couldn't just do it.

I tore my gaze away from my Mark and breathed in the sweet pine air. It was getting increasingly darker in the woods as the sun set and soon our bodies would be masked by darkness. If I was going to do anything it had to be now.

I focused on the pit of fear in my chest hoping I could retrieve some adrenaline from it but found that all it had was exhaustion mixed with the feeling of failure. I shook my head trying to not get my hopes up I had to save Dan!

“Please please please” I muttered, closing my eyes now as if that was the key.

Perhaps memories would aid in helping me obtain enough energy to fully extend my wings. I thought about all the times I was full of energy and what that felt like, like when I was awaiting getting sent down to earth and the first time I met Mark. My wings twitched at the thoughts and I could feel the start of something happening, my heart raced with joy but as soon as my wings had lifted up, they were down again. I opened my eyes and dread rained on me, I couldn't do it. I wouldn't be able to save Dan, I was going to lose my child.

“I can’t” I sobbed, turning to Mark who was holding the person I let down.

“I’m just a fucking useless angel!” I screamed, pain overtaking me.

Anger shook my body and a surge of rage I'm not sure I've ever felt raced through me. Without thinking about it I punched the tree next to me, wanting to release all the pain I was feeling. When my fist made contact with the tree my hearing was filled with the sound of splitting wood. Also, the rush of blood trickling down my hand, seeing as I just punched a solid thing. I brought my hand back and inspected the damage not caring about the slight ache running through my arm and wrist.

I could never do anything right, no one liked me in heaven everyone just ignored me. I was the weird happy kid, the one who thought they could manage taking care of a child. Everyone probably expected me to fail.

Marks expression went from wide-eyed at my random act of violence then turned pensive and he glanced at Dan again concerned, it seemed he had made his mind up but about what I wasn't sure. He put Dan down gently, sending shockwaves of worry through me.

“Mark!?” I exclaimed pointing at the lifeless body on the ground.  
  
Mark didn't speak though he just walked over to me, the silence full of tension.

He stopped in front of me and grasped my hand which was still curled into a fist, the blood was partially dry on it now. My mouth fell open as Mark gently untucked my fingers and slotted his hand to fit mine. My mind couldn't stop trying to comprehend this situation. Mark had been staring at our hands now, the way they connected together as if they were made for each other. Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion like Dan wasn’t hurt and it was just Mark and me in this bubble. Marks eyes ran from our hands up to my face where they landed finally, he gave me a sad smile.

“You will never be useless, idiot” Mark spoke softly and before I could think about answering he wrapped his other hand around my neck and kissed me.

His lips were soft but firm and I could feel something bubbling inside of me. My heart started to pound in my chest, only having kissed Mark once properly before. I missed the scratchiness of his beard and his quiet sighs. I felt tingly everywhere, every limb was shaking with nervous energy. I closed my eyes forgetting about everything. His mouth was moving against mine passionately and I could feel sparks go off in my chest, I couldn’t feel the ground anymore I was in such a dreamlike state. When Mark finally pulled away I didn’t want to open my eyes, I didn’t want to remember our situation.

“I feel like I’m floating” I muttered, indulging in the airy feeling.

“You are”

My eyes snapped open at Marks words and I raised an eyebrow before looking down at my feet.

Oh my fucking god. I’m floating.

To be sure that this was even real and I wasn’t hallucinating I looked to either side of my body, and low and behold my wings were spread on each side. My glorious white feathers, towering in bundles over my body.

“You did it, Angel,” Mark said smiling at my surprised face.

He lifted Dan back off the ground and I realized that there was no time to spare anymore. Dan was still bleeding and we still needed to get home. So without trying to overthink I forced myself to feel the ghost of Mark on my lips, just so more energy could pour into me. Whoever would believe a demon could make an angel fly?

I started to flap my wings hesitantly unsure of each motion and move since I had been so out of practice. But I found that it was like learning to ride a bike when I was human, it comes back to you quickly and soon I was high off of the ground, my wings not seeming to want to stop after leaving Mark and Dan. Mark was watching me, as he cradled Dan in his arms, his eyes were wide probably amazed that a clumsy angel could possess such beautiful strength. Once I had made it over the treetops I could see everything, the vast landscape before me was taking away the rest of the breath I had. But I knew this was no time to admire the view I had to lead Mark out of this forest so Dan could be saved. I scanned the surrounding area, hoping for anything that would look familiar, unfortunately, there was nothing there.

After a few moments of silence that was much to quiet for me, I heard cars. And cars only meant a few things.

“A street!” I exclaimed, my eyes darted all around the wide terrain till it landed on a thin grey line in the distance.

“I found it” I whispered surprised at my little victory.

Knowing there was no time to waste I flew back into the trees, seeing Mark stroking Dan's arm worriedly. Once I landed next to them a woosh noise signifying my arrival, I spoke fast,

“Mark!” I said, “keep going forward we were going the right way!”

Mark blinked in confusion at first but quickly nodded his head and held Dan tighter running through the trees.

This was our system I would fly upwards whenever we felt tired, I would scan the area and tell Mark which way to go next and then run beside them. Dan was still looking sickly making my stomach turn but his eyelids were fluttering which was better then nothing, Mark had checked his pulse multiple times and said it wasn't as strong as it could be which didn't help the nerves in my stomach.

I flew up and I saw Dan’s house, it stood tall and mighty next to the grouping of trees. My eyes widened in happiness, but I knew this was far from over.

“Keep running forward the house is right there!” I screamed down excitedly.

Hoping Mark heard my scream I awaited Dan and his figure to emerge from the trees which eventually they did. Mark was limping slightly probably from the weight of Dan, but he was still as fast as ever sprinting over to the house. Once I took a few moments to breathe I flew down to join them and tried to figure out what to do from here.

Mark carried Dan into the house, his jeans splattered with blood. I rushed inside with them.

“What the fuck are we going to do now” Mark exclaimed, his entire body visibly shaking.

Shit, what do humans do when there is an emergency!? They get a…what’s it called….ambulance! They call 911!

“We have to call 911!” I exclaimed, examining Dan’s bloody leg.

Mark’s eyes widened and he shook his head dramatically.

“We can’t! We are not allowed to be seen remember idiot!?” Mark flailed as much as he could with a human in his arms.

I bit my lip, he was right. We weren’t supposed to. But if everything else that has happened hasn’t shown me today that rules sometimes need to be broken then this certainly did. I held onto Mark’s shoulders as he continued to shake his head, trying to figure out another plan.

“Mark, I have flown, punched a kid in the face and had sex with a fucking demon” I paused to grab the phone and dial 911.

“And now I’m going to save our child”

* * *

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, Dan was being taken from us.

“Hey wait a minute!” Mark shouted, his voice gruff.

No one responded they all scurried around a hospital bed and placed Dan quickly on to it, not looking at us once. My eyes darted between all of them, why weren’t they talking to us!?

“Excuse me!?” I exclaimed, anger flooding through my veins.

Mark placed his hand on my chest, a startled gasp fell from my mouth. Still angry, I slanted my eyes unsure of Marks intentions. His eyes were wide and he leaned in quickly, clearly needing to get something across to me.

“Your eyes, dumb ass” Mark whispered and then practically sprinted away from me to the nurse.

I raised my eyebrows in confusion, what does he mean 'my eyes'? I was about to hurry after him when I caught a quick glimpse of my reflection on a table in the middle of the emergency waiting room.

“Shit” I mumbled understanding what Mark was talking about.

I could see the tint of a lighter icier blue create a glint in my eyes. I blinked as if that would get rid of the clear sign I am not human. When I looked down again, it had clearly diminished, probably because my anger was almost gone as well now replaced with stress. Mark wasn’t in the best mood probably because I called 911 without permission from him. But what did he expect us to do!? We aren’t trained professionals we needed someone else’s help!

I watched as Mark talked to the nurse, Mark had his hands on his hips and his face was one of understanding and worry combined. I was terrified, I just wanted to see Dan again. Alive and well. Stuck in my thoughts I stumbled over to one of the waiting room chairs, thinking about what the people in the ambulance asked Mark and I. Who we were….what happened. It was hard to explain, Mark and I mumbled over a lot of our explanations eventually taking turns answering the questions so we didn’t both answer with something different. We said we were neighbors, taking a walk when we saw Dan on the ground. He had fallen from a tree, as we saw the branch snapped off, he was unconscious and we don’t know his parents. Lying was easier then I’d thought it would be. An angel isn’t supposed to lie, then again an angel isn’t supposed to do half the stuff I’ve been doing.

I heard Mark grumble beside me as he sat in one of the chairs and slouched down. His nails started to click against the armrest as his leg bounced up and down. My back had horrible knots in it, stress again.

“What did they say?” I asked Mark not bothering to look at him.

Mark scoffed and stopped moving his leg.

“Fucking useless information”

I huffed and placed my hand on Mark’s to stop his fidgeting. Mark looked over at me curiously and I realized what I had just done. Blushing I tried to subtly move my hand away like it had been an accident. Mark stared at the side of my head for a while, I could see it in my peripheral view but I kept looking forward not wanting to acknowledge what I’d done. Mark was probably going to make fun of me or something, even though we had made up in the forest, the words he said on the phone echoed in my head. I forgave him, I just didn’t trust him fully yet. Slowly Mark’s hand came up and he placed it on top of mine. I snapped my head to look at him, he was smiling. A smile that told me it was ok. And so I smiled back and enjoyed the warmth of his hand, I noticed my eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier something that had never happened before. I guess my body was so worn from all the stress, that it had started to have a somewhat human-like reaction. I let them fall closed and I breathed in, as Mark wrapped his fingers around the edges of my hand.

* * *

“Excuse me sir” A voice rang in my ears, as the nothingness cleared.

Instantly my eyes popped open and a woman stood in front of me, wearing all white. I coughed confused about my surroundings for a moment.

“He’s awake and wants to see you two” The lady smiled, her teeth were perfectly straight and glistened in the harsh lighting.

I squinted at her, still not sure what she was talking about.

“I’m sorry….who?” My voice was rough, from not being used for a while.

The lady giggled and tapped her clipboard with her finger.

“Dan, the boy you brought in”

Everything wasn’t so fuzzy anymore, that statement sobered me up right away. Dan was…..awake….and wanted to see me!?

“Oh my god, thank you! Thank you, I’ll go right away” a smile formed on my face.

She giggled again and nodded her head to the side.

“You should probably wake him up as well and then I’ll take you two down,” she said and stood patiently.

My eyebrow raised until I remembered Mark. I flung my head towards him and excitedly started to nudge him. After a few hard pushes, Marks eyes fluttered open and he gave me a dopey smile.

“What?” His voice was raspy just like mine.

“Dan is waiting for us, this kind lady is going to take us to see him” I bit my lip bursting with happiness.

Just like me, Mark suddenly seemed a lot more awake, his small smile turning into a grin.

“R-really?” He said in amazement and looked over to the lady to confirm as if this was a dream.

The lady nodded and motioned for them to follow before slowly walking down the hallway that Dan had been taken down earlier. Mark and I basically jumped up and started to follow her, my brain was buzzing with the fact Dan was ok. Our child was ok. Sooner then I expected she was pointing into a room, a giant smile on her face.

“His parents are on there way as well, so as soon as you're done visiting you may go,” she told us and began to walk back down the hallway.

Mark and I looked at each other, relief apparent on our faces as we crept into the bright room with ducks on the wall. And there he was, our Dan. He looked roughed up and pale but his smile overtook all of that.

“Mark! Ethan!” Dan called out to us and held his arms open, obviously waiting for a hug.

Mark and I rushed over to him and all ran into each other, having the most awkward threeway hug ever but it didn’t matter. No matter how uncomfortable it was or how my stomach kind of hurt after having Mark’s arm hit it, all that mattered was we were all together again just how it should be.

“I’m so happy your ok” Mark whispered just loud enough for me to hear. I nodded into Dan’s neck in agreement.

Dan just squeezed us tighter, showing us he was just as glad.

After disconnecting which was equally as awkward as going into it was. Mark and I sat next to each other on the bed, with all the equipment surrounding it. None of it was triggering my memory of being human, probably because I had never had to go to the hospital. It all looked very technical and half of the stuff was beeping, I did know the one right beside Dan had his heart monitor on it though. It was almost reassuring seeing the line go up and down.

“I love you guys so much,” Dan said quietly, his smile almost sad.

“We love you too,” Mark said, squeezing Dan's shoulder.

And it was true. I loved Dan, I wanted to continue seeing him grow up, see him become a successful man. I knew eventually we would have to leave him and go on to another child. But right now all I could think about was how Dan was ok, we hadn’t ruined him, he was kind and sweet and responsible and sensitive.

We talked with him for about half an hour, going on and on about video games and what school was like now after the bullies got the hint. We were all laughing hysterically when a sharp knock was heard on the door, worried that it would be his parents I abruptly froze and turned around slowly waiting for his parents to scream about the strangers with there son. But when I turned around all that was in my presence was…a short boy with black hair that was falling into his eyes.

“Phil!” Dan exclaimed, his eyes filling with joy.

Mark and I shared a look, Phil. _**The**_  Phil? The one that Dan doesn’t shut up about and is pretty much head over heels for?

Phil smiled but awkwardly stood in the doorway after looking at Mark and me. I looked back at Dan and he was giving me a look that said ‘get out of here before you embarrass me’. I chuckled quietly and grabbed Marks sleeve, he yelped but let me pull him out of the room.

“We’ll see you at home Dan” I called out, after shutting the hospital door behind me.

Mark was stumbling as I pulled him and he ripped my hand off of him and scowled.

“You could have just told me that we were leaving” Mark grumbled and annoyedly fixed his rumpled sleeve.

I ignored him and looked through the room’s window at Dan and Phil. Phil was sitting on Dan’s bed, they both were chuckling at something Dan had said. I smirked, I could tell how happy they were with each other. If the fact Phil’s hand was interlocked with Dan's was anything to go by. I turned to see Mark staring at them, a small smile on his face.

As we stood outside watching how happy Phil and Dan were, a bright light struck my vision. I closed my eyes at the sudden brightness and when I opened them up again I was in a completely white room. My heart leaped into my throat, what the hell just happened!? Where am I? And where is Mark? I spun all around hoping to see any indication of where I was located but it was just white all around me, reminding me a lot of Heaven. But there is no way I’m in heaven…right?

“You’re probably wondering where you are” A deep voice echoed all around the vast whiteness.

I gasped at the booming voice intruding my thoughts. As my brain scurried to figure out who this stranger was, a man appeared out of nowhere. He was wearing a dark navy suit and white tie. He looked like he was in his 20’s, he had curly brown hair and black-rimmed circular lensed glasses.

“Where is Mark?” I questioned, my first worry is about him.

The man’s face scrunched up in disgust at my question and he sighed deeply before crossing his arms.

“That mongrel is here as well” he sounded like he was sickened at the fact Mark was here.

“Where is ‘here’?” I asked hesitantly, still confused about how I went from a hospital room to a paperwhite room.

The man adjusted his glasses and took a step towards me, his pointy shoes somehow echoing even though there seemed to be no floor.

“Heaven, Ethan, you are back in Heaven” he stated and repositioned his arms so they were now hanging by his sides.

Heaven? Why was I back in Heaven? And why so suddenly, and why wasn’t Mark with me?

“Why am I in Heaven?” I was starting to get a very bad feeling.

The man cleared his throat and tried to plaster a smile on his face but it looked weak like it could crumble if the wind blew on it.

“Awaiting your trial”

My heart stopped and I felt like all the air had been swept away from my lungs. My trial!?

“You couldn’t have truly expected to get away with all the shit you pulled on earth right?” The man snickered and pulled his tie side to side.

Of course, this was about the violence and the flying and being seen. But a trial? Seriously? I did all of those things to protect Dan, they couldn’t really punish me for that right?

“I am here to escort you there, our council of angels and the council of demons is awaiting you,” The man told me.

I nodded feebly, unsure of what else I could do. There is no running away from this, I knew I would have to deal with this eventually but one thing didn’t add up.

“Wait, but why is Mark here?” I questioned, he was a demon shouldn’t he being getting awarded for doing bad things?

The man got the same look of disgust on his face again and it took everything in my system to not roll my eyes.

“The demon? Well, he has shown acts of kindness so he will be on trial for that,” The man held out his hand for me to take “Now come on, the trial is starting”

My brain couldn’t stop racing, I suddenly felt very scared. The fact we were getting punished for making the right decisions was ridiculous but I knew there was no point in arguing, I would just get forced to go anyway. Reluctantly I took his hand and just like before, there was a flash of light and then I was in another room. This one wasn’t completely white though, it was set up like a boardroom. There was a table in the center of the room, three people sat on both sides. There were two empty chairs on both ends of the table. On one side the people were dressed like the man who got me was dressed, very prim and proper, navy blue and white seemed to be the dress code. Instantly the girl in the middle caught my eye, she was wearing a navy blue skirt and white blouse and her face seemed familiar. She was the lady who sent me down to Dan! I had the impulse to wave until I realized this was not the time to meet up with old friends.

On the other side of the table, the three people wore dark red suits and black shirts underneath them. If my knowledge was correct I could only assume the two women and man were demons. Three angels and three demons across from each other what a funny sight. The man was still holding my hand and he led me to sit in one of the empty chairs, I felt all of the other people’s eyes on me as I sat down. My attention was suddenly drawn to the other end of the table when red smoke burst into the room and out of it walked Mark and a tall man with dark black hair. All I wanted to do was jump up and run to him but I knew that was not an option. Mark looked equally as relieved to see me, his eyes brightening as soon as he noticed me sitting there. Once he had sat down, the men who led us here stepped backward and stood behind us, as if they were guarding us.

“Now you two, there is no time to dilly dally, let’s get into Ethan’s charges right away” A shorter woman commanded pulling up a sheet of paper.

Her voice was annoyingly high and her blonde hair was so light it was almost blinding.

“Fraternizing under the code of conduct, Violence, Misuse of Flying and Improper Identification” Her shrill voice was making my ears hurt.

Two of the angels shook there heads disappointedly, while the woman in the middle who I knew just looked at me sadly and bit her lip.

“And Mark,” One of the demons began, his voice was gruff but pleasant to listen too.

“Acts of Kindness, Forgiveness under code of conduct and Improper Identification”

I didn’t know how bad these charges were but by the grave looks on everyone’s faces I assumed they were pretty bad.

“Now Ethan,” A male angel looked at me sternly “All of these charges are grounds for sending you to the Leftover Department”

“And Mark, you will be moved into the Punishment Centre” One of the demons chimed in.

“No, you can’t do that!” I exclaimed, shutting my mouth quickly as soon as the words came out.

The man glared down at me.

“And why not? You have broken very serious rules, I don’t believe you deserve a second chance”

“Because I did those things for Dan’s safety!"

My entire body shook with raw anger. Everyone deserves a second chance! I do and Mark does as well. Not to mention how dumb this system is!

“Would you rather he died!?” I screamed, uncaring of how badly I would be punished for speaking inappropriately to the authorities.

All of the people at the table were either slightly shocked or angry, the man I was yelling at was definitely furious with my upstanding.

“So fraternizing with a demon was for the safety of Dan?” The man asked hatred in his eyes but a smirk twitching at his lips.

My cheeks heated up now with embarrassment at them knowing what Mark and I had done. I glanced over at Mark and not a single ounce of regret filled me. Sure at first I believed Mark was playing me but after he apologized to me knowing the consequences, I knew he was better then I had given him credit for. And I missed him next to me, it didn’t take long for me to actually care about him and realize that I wanted him. I wanted a demon.

I opened my mouth to vocalize these thoughts but Mark lunged up before I had a chance.

“No! I-I forced him, Ethan didn’t want to, but I made him, that is not on him” Mark declared, hurt seeping through his tough words.

I gaped at him, did he really feel that way? As soon as I took in his expression, I knew that he knew that wasn’t the truth he was doing this to protect me. Anger flooded through my system I didn’t need Mark taking the blame for me! I was already going down I wasn’t going to take him with me, not after what he told me about hell.

“So there we are, the real truth is coming out isn’t it?” The man spoke to me like I was an idiot.

I slammed my hands down on the table in a fit of rage and the group gasped.

“No, Mark didn’t make me do anything and the fact you are going to punish me and he for doing what came naturally makes me disgusted with this entire system”

I stood up, and the man who led me shifted a bit, probably thinking I was going to leave.

“Not everything is on a perfect spectrum, some of the things that make people ‘bad’ actually make them strong, and some of the things that make people ‘good’ actually make them weak,” I glanced around the table but no one seemed to have anything to say.

“Violence is sometimes needed even for an angel and acting kind is sometimes needed for a demon, acting on certain impulses shouldn’t make us bad, just like it doesn’t make humans bad, and the fact that I have fallen in love with a demon should tell you that not everything can be planned”

The entire room gasped, at my words but I didn’t waver. I stood proud, knowing that what I shared was true. I was in love with Mark, and I hated the divide between Angels and Demons. I had never stood up for anything my entire life or afterlife and I needed to do this, no matter what would happen to me now.

“That is immoral in heaven! Don’t ever say such corrupt and disgusting-“

“Richard” The lady I knew cut him off and glared at him.

“Shut up”

Everyone gasped again, I included. Telling a high-class angel to shut up was unheard of, so was talking back to angels as well though.

“Ethan is right, how is this fair? I checked on Dan before the trial was commenced and he is happy and healthy shouldn’t that be more important than a few rules broken? Did any humans figure out they were angels, no” She told the group, still holding her hand in front of the asshole angel who seemed to hate me.

“Jenny, it has always been this way” The male demon reminded her.

“So? Does this mean we can’t change it? Why can’t demons and angels live among each other, how long have we been saying how chaotic both our worlds are, many demons and angels appear to be unhappy with our system” Jenny stated it so simply, that it didn’t make sense why they had never changed it before.

“Yeah, and how would any order be kept, Jenny?” Richard sneered at her and my hatred for him grew.

Jenny took a moment to think and I suddenly remembered Mark and I’s conversation a few weeks ago. Mark had a perfect plan for this!

“Mark has an idea”

Mark gave me a look of disbelief and cleared his throat. I never thought I would see Mark who is always confident, be actually worried about saying what he thought.

“W-well I just thought maybe…there could be a council with angels and demons on it…so there could be equal say in every decision, and maybe the rules about being good and bad are put on both Angels and Demons” Mark mumbled but everyone seemed to hear what he said perfectly.

“See!” Jenny exclaimed “A perfect idea, right now all we do is meet up every week and throw people down to the leftover department for what reason? There really is none is there? They would be way more useful working or here’s an idea, enjoying there afterlife” Jenny concluded.

“Taking away all of that, demons and angels should not be able to be in love, demons are heathens and angels are servants,” Richard said persistently.

Jenny closed her eyes, exasperated, and got up out of her chair. Everyone looked at her movements and I was surprised no one else had anything to say. For being so high and mighty everyone seemed to just be scared. Jenny walked over to the demon side of the table and leaned down next to the lady on the far right, who hadn’t said a word. She had long brunette hair, and shimmering red eyes and I wouldn’t have noticed her unless Amy wasn’t pulling her shirt closer and smashing their lips together. Again as if controlled by a remote we all gasped and a smile broke on my face.

“Jenny!” The pretty demon exclaimed, breathless from the sudden kiss.

“Kathryn and I have been together for a year now and not one of you have noticed, our love isn’t wrong, just like these boys love isn't wrong" Jenny stated.

Richard looked like he was either going to cry or scream, while everyone else stared in shock at the sudden change in events.

“I can’t take living like this anymore, I want to be able to live freely and happily” Jenny concluded.

It was silent in the room until the lady with the shrill voice stood up and smiled at Jenny.

“I agree”

After that one single agreement, the other angel who had been quiet as well stood up and mimicked the other lady. Kathryn hugged Jenny showing she was obviously in agreement and the man who had told Mark his charges said he agreed as well. The only one left was stupid freaking Richard.

“How can you all agree to this, do none of you understand how order works! We can’t all live together!” Richard spewed wildly.

The lady with the high voice sighed and placed a gentle hand on Jenny’s shoulder.

“I’m tired Richard, I’m tired of sending good demons down to lands where they are broken down into nothing, and I'm tired of hell being a mess because the demons are told it's ok to only be bad, we have all just followed rules that could obviously be rewritten”

Mark and I glanced at each other excitedly, I just wished I could be next to him right now. Everyone did seem to want change, all except Richard obviously.

“And that being said,” The man with the pleasant raspy voice said “Who votes for Jenny and Kathryn to be the new leaders of this council and new world”

Jenny and Kathryn whipped there head's around, not expecting their names to be said. Everyone smirked at there pleasantly surprised faces and raised there hands. Richard sulked in his chair, apparently annoyed now that no one was listening to him and his self-righteousness.

“There, it is settled, you two will be our representatives for this new system, and it will take place immediately, we shall start by breaking the barriers between the two lands, everyone may either live in heaven or hell, we will clean up both accordingly and the people in the Leftover Department and Punishment Centre will be released and pay for there crimes in other ways” The man glanced over at Mark and I after he was done his speech.

“Ah, and of course, you two will be let off your charges on one condition”

Mark and I gazed up at him, still concerned about what the condition could be.

The man smiled warmly and his tough exterior lessened.

“You two must promise to keep working with children as partners, and I assume you will have no problem with that, by the time you are done your sentence with Dan, Heaven and Hell will hopefully be restored and living in harmony together”

Our smiles could have lit up the entire room, Mark and I came in here expecting to never see daylight again but somehow we are managing to walk out of here without a single consequence. And they are going to fix our worlds, and I believe they will.

“This is absurd” Richard commented still slouching in his seat.

Everyone turned to him again and rolled there eyes.

“Shut up Richard!” We all seemed to say in unison.

Richard huffed and crossed his arms acting like a child would. Who knew angels could be so prone to tantrums?

The angels and demons were all talking now, discussing future plans for Hell and Heaven and how new rules would be set in place. Seeing as they were busy I got up from my seat and practically ran over to Mark, he stood up looking as dumbfounded as I felt.

“Mark we did it!” I exclaimed and wrapped my arms around his neck, the joy taking over me.

“No,” Mark said warmly “You did it, Angel”

I shook my head against his neck in disagreement. His words were the same as back in the forest and happiness filled my stomach, we had come so far as people. Mark was always the one who had made me actually do things, he just never took the credit.

“So…” Mark chuckled low in my ear and I took myself out of the hug and looked at his mischievous face.

“You love me huh?”

I blushed, forgetting all about my confession earlier. I bit my lip and gave Mark a bold smile.

“You bet I do”


	7. You'll Live On In My Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the trial

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I have finished "Where You Belong" and I am so freaking happy!! I am so proud of this work, as it is my first chapter series! I hope all of you have enjoyed it, I will hopefully write more series in the future :)

A few weeks later, Mark and I were happily taking care of Dan since he had been released from the hospital. His injuries weren’t as horrible as we thought, he just had a sprained ankle and a pretty big bump on his head from falling out of the tree that led him to fall unconscious. Mark and I were pretty much his maids now and Dan was lapping up every minute of it, enjoying forcing Mark and me to get him water or Advil. Mark and I didn’t mind though, not after what we could have actually been doing instead, most likely being locked away in heaven and hell. After that whole trial, it was a bit unbelievable that we were still down on earth helping Dan. The fact we were also now permeant partners and Hell and Heaven were getting fixed was also pretty shocking. I had no idea Mark and I could have any impact on what the older angels and demons thought, really it was all thanks to Jenny, she is the one who stood up and made the council listen.

A knock at the door sent Mark and I groaning as we knew exactly who was here. Phil had been coming over to the house every day since Dan had gotten hurt and at first, it was cute, now it was driving Mark and me crazy. Firstly we had to disappear every time because technically we were still the ‘neighbours’. And second of all Dan didn’t want us hanging around nearby so we had to completely leave the house and there isn’t much to do as invisible entities on earth.

“Come on Mark” I sighed and motioned for him to follow me out of the room.

We made sure we were invisible and then stepped aside for Dan to race down the stairs in order to greet Phil. Once we heard the door swing open and the sound of a coat and shoes being removed we both rolled our eyes. It was like this every day. Then Dan would walk back up the stairs with Phil and once they made it back to his room he would guide Phil inside and then give Mark and I a look that said ‘get out now’. Mark and I would grunt in annoyance and walk down the stairs so we could leave them be. Now was time for us to find something to do outside for two hours before we were finally allowed to go back in. As soon as we walked outside though I noticed a person standing outside of the house, a tiny bit of fear rose in my chest at the random stranger outside until I recognized them.

“Amy!” I exclaimed my eyes lighting up at the sight of a familiar face.

Amy was staring at Dan’s house in wonder, her lovely golden hair being shaken by the wind. When she heard her name, her attention snapped to where Mark and I were and a smile appeared on her face.

“Oh my gosh! Ethan!” She raced towards me and we hugged.

“Why are you here?” I said against her hair as she squeezed me tightly.

“I’m Phil’s angel!” She told me happily and looked back towards the window.

“And I’m going to assume you’re Dan’s,” Amy said, motioning towards the house.

I smiled brightly and nodded, I couldn’t believe Amy was Phil’s angel, now I would probably be seeing her a lot more often. A small cough was heard behind me and I turned around to see Mark looking at me expectantly, I tilted my head when I realized I hadn’t introduced him yet. I smacked my forehead and grabbed Mark’s hand leading him to Amy.

“Sorry I completely forgot, Amy this is Mark,” I said looking at them back and forth.

Amy looked slightly confused probably because I was acting so kind to a demon. I bit my lip and wondered if I should tell her that demons and angels were cool now when she smacked her own head and held out her hand.

“Oh of course! My bad, I forgot about the new changes in Heaven and Hell! Hello, my name is Amy” she introduced herself and Mark took her hand graciously.

“Nice to meet you, Amy,” Mark said.

“I am so happy to see you, Amy, it seems like forever since we met in line,” I told her, chuckling at the memory of our first encounter.

She giggled and nodded, clearly as joyous as I was about seeing her. She then got a sullen look on her face and pointed into the distance.

“I should get going back, Crystal will be waiting for me” Her tone of voice suggested this was not a good thing.

She leaned in closer to me so Mark couldn’t hear and whispered in my ear.

“You got a good one here Ethan, Crystals a drag”

I choked on a laugh not expecting Amy to be so forward about disliking her partner. I waved her off and she told me she would be seeing me again soon seeing as Phil wouldn’t stop coming over here.

Once she had left I looked over at Mark who was chuckling slightly at what Amy had said.

“Hey Ethan, want to go to the warehouse to wait this out,” Mark said pointing at the house to show what he was talking about.

I quickly nodded and Mark snapped his fingers transporting us to this warehouse we had been going to every day. It smelled like old wood but it wasn’t too bad, we had found this old couch in Dan’s garage and moved it here so we had something to sit on while we waited for Dan to let us come back inside.

A few minutes after transporting we were laying on the couch, smiling at each other as I played with Mark’s dark locks. We were somewhat squished on the small couch but I enjoyed the warmth of Mark’s body overlapping onto mine. He was practically laying on top of me, his hands resting on my chest.

“I can’t believe how much has changed,” I said dreamily, finding myself getting stuck looking in Mark’s amber eyes.

Mark chuckled lowly and started to trace patterns with his finger on my chest, it tickled but I didn’t mind it too much.

“I know right, at the start of this I was just hoping you wouldn’t be horribly stuck up”

I giggled at that and sunk lower into the couch.

“What would you have done if I was?” I asked jokingly.

Mark looked up as if he was thinking and then he planted his hand roughly on my chest.

“Killed you”

My mouth went open and I pulled lightly on the piece of hair I was twirling. Mark batted at my hand in his hair while chuckling at my expression. I loved his laugh it was so deep and rich and it made me feel warm.

“Well at least I know one thing hasn’t changed,” Mark said, a devious smile suddenly forming on his face.

I rolled my eyes but played along with whatever he was going to say.

“And what is that?” I questioned taking ahold of his hair again to threaten him.

Mark’s eyes shimmered with a playfulness I didn’t know they could possess.

“You still haven’t masturbated”

I choked on my spit and dropped the hair I was holding, not expecting that to be the thing he was going to say. My cheeks went rosy and I hid my face from Mark not wanting him to see me blush. Mark saw anyway and laughed deeply.

“I love that me just saying that has such a huge reaction on you!” He poked one of my cheeks jokingly and I scowled at him.

“Shut up!” I said weakly, feeling like I needed to defend myself but also knowing it was true.

“What it’s true! It’s not like you’ve done it right?” Mark said still laughing at how embarrassed I was.

I didn’t say anything for a moment and Mark stopped laughing, the sudden silence made my stomach turn a bit.

“Wait a minute, Ethan you haven’t masturbated right?”

I ducked my head further into the couch and mumbled out a ‘no’, Mark didn’t say anything for a while and so I looked up at him. As soon as he saw my face his eyes widened and he huffed out a laugh.

“Oh my fucking god you have!” Mark guffawed and shook my shoulders.

“Fucking tell me right now, you’d have to have done it after our last conversation about this because you were telling the truth then” Mark had trapped me and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

“No, I haven’t! I-I wouldn’t, I would never-“

The look of absolute disbelief on Mark’s face told me to give up trying, Mark was either way too good at figuring out if I was lying or I was a horrible liar.

“Oh shut up!” I went with instead, knowing I was fucked now.

Mark’s eyes had an amused glint in them and he shook me again.

“Tell me, come on Ethan!” Mark whined digging his fingers into my shoulders.

“No-god I hate you!” I exclaimed shrugging his hands off of my shoulders.

“Hey, you tell me this and I’ll tell you something alright?” Mark persuaded, eyes still glinting.

I huffed, a pout present on my face now, but my curiosity was starting to overtake my mortification.

“What kind of ‘something’?” I asked not stupid enough to tell him without knowing what I was agreeing too.

A smirk quickly formed on Mark’s face and he leaned down next to my ear.

“Something pretty naughty, angel”

His tone made me gulp, the light tone of the room was turning a lot heavier and I sighed out a nervous breath. I had been wanting to touch Mark again for a while but even after the whole angels and demons thing became allowed I was nervous, nervous he didn’t want me like that and I was still just a pawn. It was all irrational and in my head obviously but that didn’t stop me from being anxious about it, but at this point, I was aching to get my hands on him again.

I gulped and nodded feebly.

“Ok, fuck it, I’ll tell you”

Mark's eyes gleamed and he sat up a little straighter like this was story time. I didn’t want to give him to much information it was humiliating enough as it is. The fact I got off because he was featured in the only wet dream I have ever had after he gave me the massage was horrible to admit out loud.

“I don’t know where to start” I cringed and brought my hands up to my face, feeling the heat under them.

Mark stroked my arm comfortingly.

“Where did you do it?” He questioned trying to pretend he wasn’t dying to know.

I coughed awkwardly and decided that was a good enough place to start.

“Dan’s bed”

Mark let out a laugh and then covered his mouth quickly after, though I could tell he was in shock about it.

“Shut up ok! It was after you gave me the-“ I stopped, shit I was giving way to much away on my own.

“After? After what Ethan?” Mark asked the question in such a tone that I figured he already knew the answer.

“After….the massage” My face feeling like it was boiling.

“I knew you were horny after that massage!” Mark exclaimed and high fived himself like the nerd he is.

I glared at him, screw him for enjoying this.  
“Ok I can see how much pain you are in, one last question” Mark assured making me feel relieved, I didn’t want to tell him anything else.

“What were you thinking about when you came?”

The question was so simple yet the one that made me feel lightheaded. Thinking back on those thoughts was making me feel what I felt in that moment.

“W-Well….” I trailed off, feeling heat other places then my face.

“I was thinking about you-you touching me” I mumbled, starting to feel flustered.

“Touching you?” Mark’s eyebrow raised and he smirked, a line of teeth showing through his lips.

Mark came in a little bit closer making my heart race even faster, his leg hooked over mine and I could see the darkness of Mark’s eyes. Suddenly the playful and light atmosphere was turning quickly into something else, I was beginning to hear my heartbeat in my ears.

“Touching you where?” Mark said in a hushed tone, making me feel dizzy with how he was looking at me.

He started to trail his finger down my chest, making my attention snap to the tiny movements. I almost went crosseyed as I watched his finger come closer to my upper torso, his question still echoing in my head.

“Uh….um.,” I muttered as I fell entranced by Mark’s lustful eyes.

The sudden lack of oxygen in my lungs and the heat in the room rising was messing with my head. I had never felt this much tension before in my body. As I stared into Mark’s eyes I started to feel heat spike in my abdomen, my eyes darted between his eyes and his lips as Mark’s tongue swiped over his top lip leaving a shiny gloss behind.

Without thinking about it I began to move in towards Mark, subconsciously placing my hand on his shoulder to steady myself. The intense look on his face was almost worrying but I knew he was feeling exactly the same as me if the pressure pressing against my leg was telling me anything. I was more nervous than anything, every other time Mark and I had done something like this it was quick and rushed, this felt like we were taking our time which wasn’t bad, it was just different. Being intimate with a demon and feeling like it was ok was a way different feeling then I thought it would be. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that I was allowed to touch him and speak to him freely.

“You know Mark” I started caressing his shoulder with my fingertips.

Mark broke our eye contact and looked towards his shoulder not expecting me to speak or touch him so gently.

“I remember you telling me you were going to teach me something a while ago” I smirked, my eyes lighting up at the remembrance.

Mark visibly gulped but chuckled lowly, I could tell how impacted he was just by my subtle movements.

“Oh really? And what was that?” Mark asked amused, probably thinking I was going to say video games or something stupid like that, but that is not the case at all.

I bit my lip, trying to be semi seductive though I felt ridiculous. Mark didn’t seem to mind though, as his eyes followed as my teeth pulled my bottom lip down.

“Hmm,” I tapped my chin jokingly but also started to trail my hand to the back of Mark’s neck.

“I believe it was something about how _good_ it feels to be _bad_ ” I purred.

Mark’s eyes widened slightly and a light blush formed on his cheeks. I giggled quietly at seeing Mark blush, he always was so confident, it shocked me whenever he showed signs of being as nervous as me. I started to pull Mark’s flustered face towards me, my hand gripping lightly on the back of his neck. His focus was now back on my eyes and I couldn’t stop staring at them, their glow seemed to be brighter then it had ever been before and I was almost hypnotized by them. The tips of our noses bumped into each other and both of us stifled laughter, I turned my head a tiny bit so our faces could get even closer.

“I didn’t think you would have remembered that” Mark whispered, not needing to speak any louder due to the lack of space we both had.

I grinned and stared persistently at his lips now, moving my mouth so I was inches away from his.

“You wanna know where you were touching me?” My lips brushed against his with each word and his feeble nod made me smirk.

I never knew I could affect Mark like this, just by being honest and following my impulses. Instead of answering verbally I took another bold move and grabbed his hand that was still placed on my chest, slowly I began to move it further and further down, earning a sharp intake of breath from Mark as he realized where I was going to place it. I was already so turned on and nothing had even happened yet, Mark just made me feel helpless and powerful at the same time it was intoxicating. Once I had reached my destination I held his hand just above my bulge and tentatively lowered it. As soon as I felt the warmth of his hand on my jeans I moaned quietly, just the fact Mark was touching me where no one had touched me before was extremely overwhelming. I glided my hand away from Mark’s neck and held his chin, my thumb grazing over his soft skin, Mark cautiously started to move his hand earning more moans from me at the friction. Feeling embarrassed about my noises I kissed Mark, letting my soft moans be forced down by Mark’s tongue, his careful actions and light kisses were driving me crazy, I needed more as much as I loved the sweet and gentle side of Mark I wanted to see him be his overly confident self once again.

I let go off his chin and kicked his leg off of my lower body, quickly I wrapped my arms around his back and turned so he got flipped onto the couch, my body now hovering over his as we kissed. A startled whine came from Mark but he didn’t break away from our kiss. I straddled him and he continued to rub me, making me urgent for more. I dove away from the kiss and practically ripped my shirt over my head not wanting to waste any more time. Mark’s eyes popped open as soon as my mouth was off his and he looked mesmerized by something.

“Wow,” Mark said digging his rough hands into my sides as I fixed my hair.

“Your eyes glow when you’re turned on too,” Mark said in awe, ending the statement with a low chuckle.

Oh, that’s why he was looking at me like that. I guess my eyes turn ultra blue when I’m angry and horny, good to know. Instead of caring about that simple fact I helped Mark take off his shirt. Once it was off I took a moment to admire the curves of his stomach, it had been so long since I had been able to take his abs in, and this time they weren’t covered in a sickly sugary liquid. I scooted down Mark’s body, my groin rubbing against his leg and sending delicious friction my way but right now I didn’t want to focus on me.

I started to unzip Mark’s pants and slide them off of his legs, Mark was shocked by my sudden actions but he definitely wasn’t resisting them. Maybe after waiting so long to be naked with another person, I get a thousand times more rough, seeing as I had never felt so strongly about getting someone's clothes off before. Once his jeans were down to his ankles I slipped my fingers into the waistband of his plaid boxers, a nod from him was all I needed to get rid of them too. Once Mark was completely naked, I felt a little bit calmer, he was absolutely stunning, every part of him was tan and unmarked. All of my nerves had somehow disappeared as I leaned down to his thigh, my lips connected with the soft skin and I kissed up and down. Mark seemed to be enjoying it as little moans poured from his mouth, I did the same treatment to his other thigh and Mark was basically panting, he must be really sensitive there. I was about to start kissing his stomach when Mark grabbed my hair.

“E-Ethan,” Mark said breathlessly, I looked up expectingly.

“You have got to do something more I am dying here” Mark rushed out.

I tilted my head in confusion when I looked down to see how hard Mark was. His face was absolutely desperate as well making me feel sorry for him.

“Something….like….this?” I asked slowly before licking up Mark’s dick.

Mark bucked up and bit his lip, as he nodded feverishly.

I grinned, happy seeing how needy Mark was getting. I mouthed around his dick a few more times before taking him into my mouth. Mark howled and bucked up, making me smile a bit. Mark moaned lightly after that, I continued to suck and swallow around him, and I didn’t stop to wonder where my sudden burst of confidence had come from. A little while later Mark was moaning louder and I could tell he was getting close to coming, but instead of telling me he was close he pushed me off.

I scrunched my eyebrows and looked up at him expectantly, a small string of spit dangling on my chin that I wiped away nonchalantly. Mark looked like he was trying to calm himself down before speaking.

“I don’t want to come like this Ethan” Mark told me, almost breathlessly.

That didn’t help my confusion go away and I tilted my head waiting for a further explanation.

“I want to fuck you”

My heart started to beat faster at those four words and my mouth fell open. Mark wanted to fuck me!?

“W-What?” I questioned.

Mark looked concerned at my reaction like he made the wrong choice by telling me. That was not it at all I just wasn’t expecting him to want too.

“This just feels like another thing we would do because we are scared of getting caught, we don’t have to worry about getting caught anymore so,” Mark stopped and ducked his head nervously “I want to have sex”

My breath caught in my throat when he said it like that it sounded so intimate. But I suppose he is right, I have been treating this like it needed to be fast and dirty when really Mark and I have time to take it slow and not rush things.

“Ok then,” I told him confidently, even though I had no clue what I was getting myself into.

Mark’s face perked up and he grinned at me. Not saying another word he propped himself up on his elbows and motioned to my pants. Again I was confused but not for long, the look he was giving me was telling me I needed to take my pants off. I blushed, having Mark watch me was kind of embarrassing but also really fucking hot. If slow is what he wants, then slow is what he is going to get. I unzipped my zipper as slow as I could manage before hooking my thumbs in my belt loops, Mark was staring at my actions. I removed my jeans taking my time getting up and stepping out of them before kneeling back on the couch, my bulge extremely noticeable since I was just in my boxers. Mark was gazing at me like I was some stranger and I smirked nervously, I was better at pretending then I thought. Mark snapped his fingers and a small bottle appeared in his hand, making me still my movements, the nerves coming back to me.

“I’ve got to get you prepped Angel” Mark told me, the nickname making my heart flutter.

I can’t believe I used to hate him calling me that, maybe it was just a bunch of pent up sexual aggression. I told him we needed to switch positions then, seeing as he was still completely naked lying on the couch, Mark blushed at my comment making me a tiny bit happier and moved so I was lying down and he was kneeling in front of me.

“Can I?” Mark asked softly, tugging lightly on my boxers.

I nodded shortly and prepared myself for being naked in front of Mark for the first time. He had done it like it was no problem, I could be the same. Mark followed through and my boxers slid off gracefully, my member popped up from the restrains of my boxers and I took the time to open my eyes since I had apparently shut them. Mark was looking at me all adorable and he stroked my cheek.

“Everything is going to be fine angel”

My heart fluttered at his words and I nodded again, spreading my legs so he could do what needed to be done. I knew all about sex because of all the boring time spent up in heaven, angels get around to talking and even if they are talking about it because it’s gross, it still helped me learn. Mark squirted some of the contents of the bottle on his finger and lathered it in, then he smoothed that same finger against my entrance, making me inhale sharply. His hand was warm but the liquid was cold so it was somewhat confusing, Mark told me to take some deep breaths and he pushed his finger in. I moaned in pain at the sudden stretch but shortly after pleasure started to override it, Mark took his time scissoring his fingers all with gently rubbing my hand to comfort me. After one was fine, Mark took it upon himself to add another finger, which meant the burn was back but this time it didn’t last as long and the pleasure I knew was coming hit me again as Mark brushed something inside me. I moaned loudly and blushed not ever thinking I could make a noise like that. Mark giggled and removed his fingers, deciding for himself that I was ready.

“Ok angel, it will hurt at first but it’ll go away I promise” Mark assured me and began to line himself up.

I took a deep breath in, I wanted to act like I was fine but I knew it was going to hurt. I just didn’t want to seem weak in front of Mark, not like I had in the forest with Dan I never wanted him to see me like that ever again. When Mark pushed in, I groaned at the much larger stretch. It burned slightly and Mark told me to tell him when to move. After a short period of time I could feel the ache start to lessen and told him he could, he moved an inch more and the process started all over again. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Mark was fully in and the pain was subsiding enough for it to actually be pleasurable.

“You know Ethan,” Mark said rocking his hips gently “you never asked about what I was going to tell you”

I huffed out a laugh mixed with a moan at the sensations.

“Yeah well I guess some things came up”

Mark chuckled and ran his strong hands up my sides.

“Well, I thought you might want to know my dirty little secret” Mark stated, starting to use a little more force now, making me even more turned on.

“It was also after I gave you that massage”

I raised my eyebrows amused by Mark’s tone and the situation.

“Oh? Do tell more” I joked biting my lip to stop a moan from slipping out.

“Well you looked so fucking sexy writhing around as I gave you it, I was turned on more than I ever think I have been, when you told me to leave the room I was shocked but also somewhat happy”

I squinted my eyes and dug my fingers into Mark’s hips, to steady myself against his rough actions.

“Happy? Why?” I wondered.

Mark smirked and caressed my stomach.

“Cause I was so fucking hard it was almost unbearable so when you told me to left I went into the living room and got off”

I choked on my own spit, and a surprised laugh fell from my mouth.

“Mark!” I exclaimed laughing despite myself.

“What? You did the same thing o-ok” Marks voice broke a bit on the last word as we were both getting more affected by his movements.

“I’m just glad you didn’t walk out” Mark mumbled.

My mind started to conjure up thoughts, like what I would have witnessed if I had walked out of the room. Just picturing Mark with his head tilted back in pleasure was way too nice of a thought. Our moans started to collide together and once Mark hit my prostate I knew I was done for.

“M-Mark! Fuck I’m close!” I said.

Mark held on harder to me and pounded directly into my prostate with everything he had. In a few seconds, I was coming, bliss falling over me as Mark came a few seconds later. We rode out our orgasms silently, just enjoying each others presence and the amazing feelings afterward.

“You know,” Mark said breathing heavily “There is a sweet part to that story”

I rolled my eyes and cringed as Mark pulled out of me, the lack of something in me was worriedly unappealing.

“Really? And what was that?” I asked him sarcastically.

Mark whacked me lightly and started to sink into the couch.

“Well after I finished,” Mark paused and grinned, making me roll my eyes again “all I could think to myself was how happy I was and how great my job was and how I was so fucking… unlucky”

I was following until he said the last part, I squinted my eyes and nudged him.

“Unlucky?”

Mark sighed and gave me a small smile.

“Yeah unlucky, because I was the damn fool who had fallen head over heels for an angel”

Warmth filled my chest and I grinned sheepishly back at Mark. Ok fine he was right, there was a sweet part.

I leaned in and gave him a tiny peck on the cheek, happy that my first time was with Mark. All of my first times were pretty much with Mark actually. First time being happy, first real kiss and first time being in love. Somehow I didn’t think I would ever experience the last one with anyone else.

“Mark,” I said almost tiredly even though that wasn’t technically possible for an angel to be.

Mark glanced over at me, affection roaring wild in his eyes.

“I love you” I stated, so clearly there could no misunderstandings about it.

Mark’s lips twitched upwards into a smile and he properly gripped my face bringing me in closer. Suddenly his lips were on mine and we were kissing passionately, and just like in the forest energy was flooding over me again. I held Mark’s face, deepening the kiss, my fingers were digging into his chin roughly as though I was scared that if I let go Mark would disappear.

All of a sudden a noise rang in my ears and I pulled away from Mark. Mark opened his eyes and looked down at his watch, which was beeping annoyingly.

“Well it seems we can go back to the house now,” Mark said rolling off of the couch lazily.

I groaned and sat up pulling my clothes back on begrudgingly knowing that there was a job to do even if I just wanted to lie here with Mark all afternoon. Mark scoffed at my pout and finished zipping up his zipper.

“Don’t be like that angel, one day you are going to miss this” Mark told me.

I rolled my eyes but nodded in agreement, one day I suppose I will miss Dan calling on me because one day I will no longer be needed or even remembered.

* * *

 

_**FIVE YEARS LATER** _

 

“I’ll be right back!” Dan called out, rushing up his staircase.

“Hurry up, we cannot be late for school again!” Phil exclaimed from downstairs, tapping his foot impatiently.

Dan raced into his bedroom and scurried around the room, desperately trying to find his book bag.

“I swore I threw it here last night” Dan mumbled to himself while picking up clothes and throwing them every which way.

Eventually, Dan caught sight of a brown strap, just under his bed. Excitement took over him and he flopped onto the floor, a wave of dust rose in the air which led Dan to cough dramatically but it didn’t matter because there was his book bag.

“Seriously Dan! I will leave without you!” Phil shouted to him and Dan smiled.

Phil would never leave Dan no matter how many times he threatened too. They just worked too well together. Dan brushed off the remaining dust on his book bag and threw it over his shoulder. As he began to leave the room he bumped into his dresser sending a picture frame toppling over, Dan groaned and picked it up so it was facing him. He examined the picture and chuckled, remembering the cringe-worthy day when he took it. Dan scoffed but smirked at his childhood memories before running out the door at another yell from Phil.

And there on the dresser, the picture frame stood proudly, full of forgotten secrets. The picture inside, nothing but a lost memory missing a few pieces. In it, Dan was the main focus grinning wildly while he held the camera up, his young face gleaming with pride. That was the day Dan had defeated his two childhood bullies, Roger and Derek by himself. The empty air around him always remained mysterious to Dan now, as he always felt like something was filling it at the time but eventually he snaps out of his delusions and remembers that in his childhood he was alone.

And yet somehow, he was never lonely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet :P


End file.
